Virtual QFD Green Belt® Certificate Course

April 7 – April 9, 2021  (4 hours x 3 days)
@ 7pm – 11pm Japan Time
@ Noon – 4 pm Central European Summer Time
     See what time this is in your zone
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Contact us to attend, reserve your seat, or ask questions

Now you can attend the QFD Green Belt^® Course from anywhere in the world over the Internet. Please join us in the upcoming course:

• Internationally acclaimed introduction to the cutting-edge modern QFD and ISO 16355, current best practices and tools;
• How QFD can solve issues you face in product, service, software and process development, and help identify innovative solutions and new opportunities;
• Modern Voice of Customer analysis;
• Gemba study tools;
• Prioritization using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP templates included);
• Solid ISO 16355 QFD foundation and sound practices essential for Design for Lean Sigma / Six Sigma;
• Introduction to Kansei Engineering / Lifestyle Deployment, Hoshin, TRIZ, New Kano Model;
• Modern QFD templates, including Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), Customer Process Model, Maximum Value Table, modern House of Quality with sound math, and more;
• Hands-on practice of the tools and deployment — on your own work project (when possible);
• No prerequisites.
• After-class support for attendees.

This is a live online workshop (you will need a free Zoom account).

For questions, please contact us. To receive timely announcements about future QFD training and implementation tips, please sign up for the free newsletter.

QFD in a Pandemic

Under COVID-19 lockdown, now nearly one year, we at the QFD Institute has been responding to the needs of businesses by instituting changes that are having a profound impact on QFD projects, QFD methods, and QFD training. We’d like to share some of our successes.

QFD Projects:

There has been a trend towards QFD applications in healthcare and in digitalized products. This intensified over the last year due to increased demand for new capabilities and faster time-to-market for medical devices. Unpredictable environments related to durations of use, training of non-traditional operators and users, maintenance and cleaning protocols, infectious disease control, new manufacturing, distribution, and related conditions have increased the need for faster design, re-design, quality control, and “getting it right the first time.” The emergence of telemedicine is demanding new ways for medical staff and patients to connect.

Experienced QFD practitioners will recognize these problems as the very conditions that gave rise to QFD nearly 60 years ago. This trend did not catch us by surprise, as attendees of our QFD classes in recent years were trained on a medical case study that deployed into infectious disease control services and materials, a physical device, and a software interface.

We have also seen an increased interest in applying QFD to digital and communications products as the shift to work-from-home, on-line education, and virtual meetings and family/social events has strained communication infrastructure, privacy and security, and demand for computers and other devices. Customer needs for easy setup, ease of use, and reliability have remained high priorities as first-time users (including seniors and children) require more screen time to remain engaged with their life activities.

QFD interest among companies engaging in e-commerce has also grown as customers shift from on-site shopping to pick-up and delivery arrangements. How customers browse, order, pay, and receive fresh food and household staples is different than downloading or streaming entertainment.

These disruptions have increased opportunities for QFD experts to help marketers and engineers work faster and better together to deliver solutions that help customers retain some sense of control and normalcy in their lives.

QFD Methods:

The urgency of this new commercial and social environment has been well served by the improved methods of Modern Blitz QFD^® which the QFD Institute has been standardizing in recent years.

Blitz QFD® does not rely on large matrices like the House of Quality that require long hours of teamwork to complete. Instead, more concise Excel-based tools allow individuals and teams to work remotely and independently while maintaining customer priorities, communications, and innovation. This can result in much faster QFD project completion with a focus on addressing what matters most to customers.

Because customer insight and intimacy is critical to understanding what will excite and delight customers in their most critical applications, we have been exploring ways to use new technology that maintains safe, contact-free, and private gemba research.

The Modern Blitz QFD® methods are now available in the new ISO 16355 series standards for QFD, especially ISO 16355-2: 2017, ISO 16355-4:2017, and ISO 16355-5:2017. Excel templates for the Modern Blitz QFD® as well as updated Classical QFD are included in the Virtual training.

QFD Training:

The change to Virtual training has become a great opportunity for attendees from around the world. Benefits include:

• Classes are kept small to allow the instructor to pay close attention to each attendee and their project.
• Some sessions have more than one instructor depending on the industries of the attendees.
• iZoom breakout rooms allow multiple students from one company to work from home, yet discuss project details in private chats with the instructor.
• Included in the tuition is on-going support for your QFD project after the training concludes.
• e-materials that you can print, zoom, and translate (if English is your second language) in advance of the class.
• No travel expenses or travel time to attend.
• Less disruption to your work and family life.

This extra attention to your success has become a great point of pride for us, and the results have been remarkable in terms of the quality of work attendees have submitted for review and the percentage of students who have quickly earned their Full QFD Green Belt^® certification.

In 2020, we have attracted attendees from China, India, Europe, Canada, USA, and elsewhere with business professionals, university students and faculty.

The 2021 schedule for our Virtual QFD training will always be posted on www.qfdi.org. It is regularly updated as new course dates are added.

The upcoming virtual QFD Green Belt^® course (4 hours x 3 days):

• Online Brochure
• PDF Brochure

In 2021, a virtual QFD Black Belt^® program for advanced facilitators is also planned. If you have particular training needs or would like different dates and time zone, we would be happy to consider private training as well. Please contact us.

What is Maximum Value Table?

Maximum Value Table (MVT) is one of the powerful tools in Modern QFD that is explained in the ISO 16355 standard. Below, let us share an excerpt from a recent QFDI newsletter, describing the purpose and role of the MVT and why it is important to master this tool before attempting a House of Quality matrix.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Maximum Value Table lets you deploy the same focused of voice of customer analysis as the House of Quality (HoQ) matrix does, but with greater speed, efficiency, and focus. It is an invaluable tool when budget, manpower and development time are limited.

Its purpose is to deploy only the highest priority Customer Needs into a solution design, build, and commercialization such that every necessary action to satisfy those needs is taken by each and every relevant organization department in a timely and quality way. No step must be overlooked. This is how customer satisfaction with the new product is assured.

The MVT is not constructed in one meeting, but it is populated as the design progresses, with each department adding its information in reflection of prior entries and in anticipation of later entries. It creates a traceable record that illustrates how every necessary action to achieve customer satisfaction has been sufficiently performed.

It is important to appreciate that only with a true multi-functional team can all of the MVT columns get addressed.  This forces cross-functional collaboration toward a common business goal. This is exactly how it assures the final shipped product will satisfy the highest priority customer needs.

The MVT achieves its purpose of providing maximum value to the customer by assuring their highest priority problems, opportunities, and image concerns are resolved by the new product or service. The MVT provides maximum value to the organization by aligning all critical resources (time, people, money, information) to develop and commercialize the new product or service. Value is achieved only when the customer chooses our new product or service and puts it into service to satisfy their needs.

Which should we use, MVT or HoQ?

The columns of the MVT are indicators of what, if any, QFD matrices from the Comprehensive QFD toolset described in the eight parts of ISO 16355 may be useful for more detailed analysis.

A QFD matrix is an effect-to-cause relationship matrix between two data sets. This means that any two MVT columns that share a relationship could be juxtaposed into a matrix that would indicate the strength of the relationship and transfer the weights of the rows into weights for the columns.

The House of Quality (HoQ) is the most well-known among the 30+ matrices in Comprehensive QFD. The HoQ juxtaposes a large set of Customer Needs against a large set of Functional Requirements. The top priority items in the HoQ, that is, Customer Needs and Functional Requirements, are commonly found at the start of the MVT.

As such, the MVT can often replace the HoQ when resources are constrained. Alternatively, the MTV can be used to model which Comprehensive QFD matrices are needed. There is no penalty to doing the MVT first, because by definition, the highest priority information derived from QFD matrices should already be in the columns of the MVT. A well executed MTV is more valuable than a poorly or partially deployed HoQ matrix.

Where can I learn the Maximum Value Table (MVT)?

The Maximum Value Table (MVT) is taught at the QFD Green Belt^® training.

The QFD Institute offers public QFD Green Belt^® courses several times a year. The same workshop is also available at your business locations. Please inquire by email.

Most attendees are able to begin using this fabulous tool in their work, once they get with it through hands-on practices in the class.

Notes:

Transferring the Customer Need weights into Functional Requirement weights in the HoQ is conventionally done using Independent Distribution calculations (in Excel this function is called SumProduct). These calculations do not support the use of ordinal scale numbers, which was inherited from the 1960-70s Japanese QFD in the pre-computer era. In the late 1980s, the QFD math was upgraded to more precise ratio scale numbers based on the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and other best practices from Multicriteria Decision Making theory. This upgrade is now taught in the QFD Green Belt^® training (including Excel worksheets) and guidance is detailed in the ISO 16355-5:2017 standard.

March 2020 QFD Workshop

QFD Green Belt® Certificate Course

March 19–20, 2019
Online Brochure

We now offer this course as a live online training workshop. Please visit the Calendar page for the upcoming course dates, or contact the QFD Institute if you have questions.

• Internationally acclaimed introductory to Modern Blitz QFD^®, ISO 16355, No-Matrix QFD.
• Compatible with QS-9000, Six Sigma, DFSS, Stage Gate, EFQM, TQM, Baldrige, and other quality initiatives.
• Start applying tools in the class on your own project or practice on a generic model.
• No prerequisites.

Contact

For questions, please contact us (email).

Competitive Benchmarking and QFD - ASQ Webcast

Competitive benchmarking plays an important role in the design and development of new products. After all, why would a customer buy something new unless the new product offered superior benefits over what they use now.

Benchmarking competitors can be employed at different QFD phases to help identify opportunities where both the producer (business) and the customer get the "biggest bang for the buck."

The "Competitive Benchmarking and QFD" webcast gives an excellent overview of what QFD really is and how your business can benefit from it. Best of all, you learn the most trusted QFD information from the world top QFD expert, Glenn Mazur.

The webcast also provides an eye-opening update including the new ISO 16355, for those who had learned QFD from the books and/or instructors teaching the out-of-the-date method (such as 4-phase or 4-house model from the 1960s) or incorrect information (such as 'a House of Quality matrix is QFD').

This webcast is a part of "Learn About Quality" education by the American Society for Quality (ASQ), and the QFD Institute is pleased to provide the updated content.

The webcast is free to the ASQ members.
Sign in from this page to access it, if you are already a member.

Interested in getting an ASQ membership?
It is available for individuals and corporations, regardless of your location.

You can read the snippets of the webcast content from this page, if you do not wish to get an ASQ membership at this time.

QFD Master Class in India

The QFD Institute is pleased to announce the QFD Master Class in India this fall, in cooperation with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Institute of Quality.

QFD Master Class

• When: 21–22 November 2019

• Where: Bangalore, INDIA

• Details:  https://ciiqualitysummit.in/master-class/

This is an excellent opportunity for businesses in India and neighboring regions to learn from the world top QFD expert Glenn H. Mazur.

• What is QFD (Quality Function Deployment) -- its root, history, recent advancements
• Key QFD methods and tools
• Basic application steps
• ISO 16355

The workshop elements in this 2-day class equip participants with important skills that they can implement in their work environment, across the supply chain of their business, and the value chain of their customers, plus optional QFD Green Belt^® certification.

For details and registration, please see the website of CII Institute of Quality.

ISQFD'19-Boise: The 25th International Symposium on QFD

Over seven decades ago in the aftermath of the WW II, Japanese engineers learned from Dr. W. Edwards Deming about statistical process control (SPC), and taking to heart Deming’s teachings, rebuilt Japan’s industrial base. Over time. SPC morphed it into Kaizen and TQM.

At the height of Japanese quality dominance in the 1980s, a handful of Americans discovered the Japanese secret to new product excellence: Quality Function Deployment (QFD). These Americans, including QFD Institute advisors Larry Sullivan and Bob King, studied with Dr. Yoji Akao, who happily shared his knowledge to anyone who came to him, just like Dr. Deming did decades earlier.

QFD spread globally, triggered by the case studies published through the Symposia on QFD, the first of which was organized in Michigan (USA) in 1989 by Bob Adams and which became the predecessor of the International Symposium on QFD.

The QFD taught in the 1980s, however, was rooted in the 1960s Japanese TQM era and was inefficient in many Western business environments and technology-based product development. Dr. Yoji Akao, one of the founders of QFD, approached the QFD Institute to modernize Japanese 1960s QFD for a 21st century global business environment, with Six Sigma precision and Lean Sigma speed.

With the new ISO 16355 Standard established in 2015, Modern QFD has transcended beyond it’s original manufacturing form to become a universally applicable toolset for new product and business development, business process re-engineering, corporate transformation, innovation, and, of course, quality. Tools included in Modern QFD are Blitz QFD^®, Customer Voice Table, Maximum Value Table, modern House of Quality using AHP prioritization math, and many more.

Showcased in the 25th International Symposium on QFD (ISQFD) on September 6–7, 2019 are case studies and research that reflect these exciting advancements including Modern QFD for business transformation. They are but a sample of the state of QFD Best Practice from around the world, taking on important, timely topics and presenting solutions with QFD analytics and tools.

Once again, activities for people of all levels of QFD experience are offered at the 2019 conference: the QFD Green Belt^® Certificate Course on September 4–5; QFD Black Belt^® Certificate Course on September 9–13; QFD Black Belt^® Update Course and QFD Green Belt^® Update Course on September 8. These QFD Belt Courses are our way of giving back to our QFD community.

Without the hard work, diligence, and generosity of our authors and presenters and QFD Institute staff, this symposium could not have taken place. Our gratitude for all. We also acknowledge support from the members of the International Council for QFD and the members of the ISO 16355 QFD technical committee.

If you are interested in participating the next ISQFD and/or QFD courses, or if you would like to purchase the symposium transactions, please contact the QFD Institute.

ISO 16355 QFD Courses in 2019

QFD (Quality Function Deployment) links both the spoken and unspoken needs of the customer (target quality) with design, development, engineering, marketing, manufacturing, service and other organizational functions through its systematic deployment.

The methodology, originated from Japan, has been not only successfully applied in virtually every industry and business (examples: aerospace, manufacturing, software, communication, IT, chemical and pharmaceutical, transportation, defense, government, R&D, food to service industry), but it also continues to advance. The ISO 16355 for QFD, in particular, addresses the needs of today's businesses and project members who must compete in the increasingly global and agile business environment.

Your project is too important to gamble on uncertified trainers, books, someone else's examples or even matrix-making software. So are your time and company resources.

Begin your QFD journey right the first time, using the most optimized tool set and efficient deployments for your particular project—whether it is a multim million dollar product development or academic research. Here is your chance to learn and begin applying Modern Blitz QFD® and ISO 16355 tool set for innovation, new product development, and business process design.

• SEPTEMBER 4–5, 2019
  QFD Green Belt® Certificate Course
  This course has no prerequisites.
  Online Brochure
  PDF Brochure

• SEPTEMBER 9–13, 2019
  QFD Black Belt® Certificate Course
  Online Brochure
  PDF Brochure
  Read more about this advanced training

• SEPTEMBER 8, 2019 
  QFD Black Belt® UPDATE Course
  Past graduates of QFD BB can receive a semi-private coaching and
  the latest update and materials on ISO 16355.
  Online Brochure
  PDF Brochure

• SEPTEMBER 8, 2019 
  QFD Green Belt® UPDATE Course
  For the past graduates of QFD GB who wish to advance to the Black Belt level.
  Online Brochure
  PDF Brochure

All events listed above will be held at Hampton Inn & Suites Boise Downtown, in Boise, Idaho USA, and include the complimentary 25th International Symposium on QFD (Sept 6-7, 2019) ..

For questions, please contact the QFD Institute.

Tutorial "QFD for Business Transformation"

click here for Autoline youtube

Back in 2016 we sensed General Motors was onto something when we saw one of their VPs on the Autoline THIS WEEK. In that TV interview, she emphasized "mobility" as the company's new business strategy into the future, responding to the shift in the customer needs from being a car owner to a mobility user.

In fact, GM had filed for the trademark "General Mobility" around the same time, we hear, suggesting that top management had been working out the strategic transformation for some time, in order to stay sustainable in the face of recent car-sharing and on-demand transportation business models as well as consumer preference for convenience and economic efficiency over the traditional ownership prestige, and anticipation of new technologies such as autonomous vehicles.

It was not until 2018 when their number one Japanese competitor caught the wind of this. At the 2018 CES trade show, the president of Toyota Motor Company announced that his company, too, aims to become a "mobility service company," in spite of their long standing position as a manufacturer of "cars that give you pleasure in owning" as emphasized by frequent commercial campaigns "Let's Go Places" by driving their cars.

While we root for both companies to succeed, one wonders,

• How do you go about making such business transformation?
  
• What actions are required of an organization to bring out fundamental changes in the way they conduct business?
  
• Are there ways to effect transformation systematically and effectively?

Are there tools that QFD can offer?

The September 2019 International Symposium on QFD (ISQFD) will include a tutorial precisely on this subject.

To remain sustainable in the long term, an organization needs to be able to systematically and rapidly adapt/transform its products, services, business models, resources and enterprise infrastructure in response to the changing business environment. To accomplish this in a coordinated manner, the business needs to be considered as a socio-technical system operating within a very complex and highly dynamic environment.

More often than not, the changes in market expectations and technological capabilities demand transformation across multiple organizations in integrated supply chains, where some businesses will be software intensive businesses, while others focus on physical offerings. These changes are being accelerated with the emergence of Internet of Things and Industry 4.0 developments and capabilities.

The tutorial "QFD for Business Transformation" will introduce the principles and relationships between Modern QFD and business transformation planning and development for businesses. The tutorial will reference relevant sections in the new ISO 16355 standard for QFD, and give attendees exercises to connect the principles and key methods, particularly Hoshin Kanri, the initial analytic stages of QFD, and prioritization and methods like analytic hierarchy process (AHP).

The tutorial will consist of approximately 1 hour of lecturing and 1 hour of exercises using a case study from 'Space logistics systems' scenario.

This tutorial was developed by three QFD Black Belts^®: Dr. Kim Stansfield, Steve Dimelow, and John Fraser and has been successfully taught in UK at INCOSE (systems engineering) conferences.

This September, please join us to gain new knowledge and skill-set on this important subject.

The 2-day ISQFD including this tutorial is complimentary to those who sign up for the QFD courses.

• Registration Details:
  http://www.qfdi.org/registration.html
• Event Dates:
  http://www.qfdi.org/symposium.html
• ISQFD Symposium Presentations:
  http://www.qfdi.org/symposium_presentations.html

About the Tutorial Instructors The ISQFD tutorial "QFD for Business Transformation" will be taught by Dr. Kim Stansfield and Mr. Steve Dimelow. Dr. Kim Stansfield is a QFD Black Belt® and 2016 Akao Prize recipient. He is currently Associate Professor of Transformational Systems Engineering WMG, at University of Warwick, UK. He has over 20 years of experience in automotive and aerospace control systems and also in applying QFD and DFSS to large Enterprise IT Systems development.  Dr. Stansfield started his career in the Composites Group of the UK's Royal Aerospace Establishment, and then moved to Lucas Engineering and Systems and Energy Technologies Institute. He has been the UK representative for the development of the ISO 16355 standard for QFD since 2010.   Mr. Steve Dimelow is a QFD Black Belt® and known in industry for his ability to solve complex engineering problems so that Projects can be brought in on time, cost and quality. His professional career includes British based Heavy Haulage company (ALE Ltd) in Abu-Dhabi, Hydratight Hevilifts in Walsall where he was involved in the design and commissioning of computer controlled Hydraulic Jacking Systems and Hydraulic Bolting Systems for the Civil, Powergen and Petro/Chem industries, followed by Smiths Aerospace in Wolverhampton where he was a Lead designer on Primary and Secondary Flight Controls for Civil and Military Aerospace, and Rolls-Royce in Derby where he has worked on Military and Civil engine programmes as well as new technology acquisition programmes. It was during his work in the Aerospace business where he developed interest in Systems Engineering and sought the influential Systems Engineering Specialist role. In 2016, Steve earned a QFD Blackbelt® after searching for a method to connect business to engineering. He has been successful in applying QFD / Systems Engineering principles and Systems Thinking techniques both in practice on engineering programmes and through ongoing corporate training/coaching campaigns. Steve is currently contracted to QuEST Global Engineering Services as a Consultant Systems Engineer.

To inquire about this tutorial, ISQFD, and QFD certificate courses, please contact the QFD Institute.

Using QFD and AHP's Structured Analysis to Surface Market Predictions and Formulate Future Strategy

This might come across as strange but we once heard a Navy officer say their number one enemy is the Air Force. It was meant as a metaphor describing how different divisions within an organization fight for the same resources.

Similar situations can be found in the business world. One product division views another as their number one competitor to be defeated, a sales force competes for a territory or market share with another department in the same company, or a VP demands a budget for her group's project pushing back against another VP doing the same for his.

Internal completion is good generally, but when leadership is disconnected for various reasons and travels in conflicting directions, it becomes a problem. It leads to unnecessary redundancy, wasted resources, broken team spirit, and diluted market focus.

While it might not always be possible to cause leadership to change his/her mind, what if you could offer a single view of company activities, market, and competitive environment that everyone can work from? What if you could offer a versatile structured analysis that enables the leadership to see current market direction as well as help them formulate strategic responses to changing elements in the future in a systematic way?

Here is a case study that used Quality Function Deployment (QFD) to surface the market predictions and AHP to discuss and decide on future events, showing the ways to achieve agreement and alignment among the leadership: "Predicting Future Health Insurance Scenarios using Quality Function Deployment (QFD) and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)". This case study was done by Carey Helper and Glenn Mazur and was presented in 2008 (ISBN 1-889477-20-6). Here are some of the analysis used.

Mr. Carey W. Hepler is one of our QFD Black Belt^® graduates and the recipient of the 2010 Akao Prize® for Excellence, a member of the US technical advisory group for the ISO 16355standard for QFD, a Six Sigma Black Belt, and an Net Promoter System Champion at UnitedHealth Group®.

He has been applying various aspects of modern QFD successfully in the healthcare and insurance fields. (See below for a list of some of Carey's papers). We are pleased to announce that Carey will be co-teaching the QFD Green Belt^® Certificate Course on September 4-5, 2019 at the 25th International Symposium on QFD in Boise, Idaho USA.

Since its inception, the aim of the QFD Institute training has been to produce practitioners who are capable of applying QFD thinking and tools correctly and effectively in their profession for successful development of new products, services, and business processes, and by doing so, to foster the next generation of QFD practitioners within his/her organization.

Carey is a good example, and we are pleased to have him co-teach in Boise. His experience in the QFD Belt^® training will be an added benefit for new students who might have questions on how to go about applying QFD in their work or tips for a successful outcome.

PDF Brochures:

• QFD Green Belt^® Certificate Course

• The 25th International Symposium on QFD

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

QFD papers/presentations by Carey W. Hepler:

"QFD and Politics - A Sure Way To Start An Argument"
Carey Hepler, QFD Black Belt^®, 2010 recipient of Akao Prize, Solantic Urgent Care (USA)
First of its kind, this paper examines using QFD in a political campaign. QFD is the art and science of taking the voice of the customer (VOC), and, more specifically, the top needs of the targeted customer segments, into consideration before developing a product or service. This paper discusses the specific steps of using Modern Blitz QFD® tools for an actual election campaign by his wife for a Florida county judgeship. Specifically, how to: 1) select target segments; 2) use the voice (top needs) of the target segment customers to develop the strategy; 3) create messaging; and 4) deploy the messaging to the targeted segments. [ISBN 1-889477-24-9]

"The QFD Process at Medtronic - Creating the Next Generation of Insulin Pumps and Sensors"
Carey Hepler, QFD Black Belt^®, 2010 recipient of Akao Prize, Medtronic; Cary Talbot, QFD Black Belt^®, Senior Marketing Product Planner, Medtronic, USA
Changes in technology and customer expectations are creating many new opportunities for medical device organizations. As the oldest and most respected diabetic medical device organization in the world, Medtronic MiniMed strives to stay ahead of the competition by quickly responding to these changes with new and improved insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitoring products. Recently, we have began using QFD to discover the unspoken customer needs for targeted portions of our population. QFD has allowed us to convert their needs into new products, services, and features to delight and attract new customers as well as retain current customers. This paper will describe some of the new opportunities we are facing, and show step by step how we are addressing them by understanding the Voice of the Customer and innovating and implementing exciting solutions. [ISBN 1-889477-23-0]

Predicting Future Health Insurance Scenarios using Quality Function Deployment (QFD) and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)
Carey Hepler, QFD Black Belt^®, Innovation Director, BCBS of Florida, USA; Glenn Mazur, QFD Red Belt^®, QFD Institute, USA
This project used a combination of QFD, AHP, and other forecasting tools to look at possible 2008 election and policy outcomes and what new opportunities might be created to service both traditional members of health insurnce products as well as those who are uninsured in the State of Florida. The identified scenarios can be used to map and prioritize different market segments, formulate key customer needs into value propositions, determine strengths and weaknesses in their current competencies and capabilities, and then initiate service quality projects to begin improving those areas where customers will need them most. Several quality methodologies have been used to design successful products. [ISBN 1-889477-20-6]

The Many Faces of AHP - How to use AHP with Different Audiences for Maximum Results
Carey Hepler, QFD Black Belt^®, Innovation Director, BCBS of Florida, USA; Glenn Mazur, QFD Red Belt^®, QFD Institute, USA
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida (BCBSF) is the oldest and most respected health insurance organization in the State of Florida. This paper discusses the company's use of AHP in terms of audience and technology delivery, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of each of the technologies when working with the company's constituent groups. [ISBN 1-889477-19-2]

Finding Customer Delights Using QFD
Carey Hepler, QFD Black Belt^®, Integrated Market Intelligence, BCBS of Florida, USA; and Glenn Mazur, QFD Red Belt^®, QFD Institute, USA
Changes in market demographics and the regulatory environment are creating many new opportunities for health-care and related organizations. As the oldest and most respected health insurance organization in the State of Florida, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida (BCBSF) strives to stay ahead of the competition by using QFD to discover the unspoken customer needs for an underserved portion of our population. QFD has allowed us to convert their needs into new products, services, and features to delight and attract new customers as well as retain current customers. This paper describes some of the new opportunities we are facing, and shows step by step how we are addressing them by understanding the Voice of the Customer and innovating and implementing exciting solutions. [ISBN 1-889477-18-4]