Benchmarking in QFD for quality improvement

Through listening to the voice of the customer, quality function deployment (QFD) is a systematic methodology for quality improvement and product development. The quality of a product or service is ultimately judged in terms of customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction benchmarking can help decision makers identify areas for improvement, make strategic decisions, and set targets on desired satisfaction performance. The main purpose of this paper is to study procedures and methods for successful benchmarking in QFD for quality improvement. It discussed the customer satisfaction benchmarking process in QFD and proposed the use of hierarchical benchmarks for strategic competitor selection and decision making. A case study was presented to illustrate the use of this method. This paper may provide a road map to achieve worldclass performance through benchmarking in QFD, especially for small to mediumsized enterprises or companies in developing countries. © 2000, MCB UP Limited