Title: Agility and innovation through QFD: an endeavour through agile ITQFD technique

Authors: S. Vinodh, G. Sundararaj, S.R. Devadasan, D. Rajanayagam, R. Murugesh

Addresses: Department of Production Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli – 620015, Tamil Nadu, India. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India. ' Department of Production Engineering, PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India. ' Salzer Electronics Limited, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India. ' Oppis Ready Foods, Civil Aerodrome (PO), Coimbatore – 641014, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract: Modern organisations are searching for techniques that would combine quality, innovation and agility to face the highly intensified global competition. In order to fulfil this need, a technique named as agile Innovative Total QFD (agile ITQFD) is proposed in this paper. A research work was carried out in which agile ITQFD was subjected to implementation study in an electronics switch manufacturing company. A major portion of this implementation study involving two switches is presented in this paper. Finally, a feedback on agile ITQFD was gathered from the team members who participated in this implementation study. Their reactions indicated the practical feasibility of agile ITQFD technique. The details of this research work are presented in this paper. A roadmap for successful deployment of agile ITQFD technique is also proposed in this paper.

Keywords: agile manufacturing; agility; innovation; QFD; quality function deployment; agile ITQFD; innovative total QFD; house of quality; Salzer Electronics; switch manufacturing; electronic switches; client feedback.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMP.2009.026963

International Journal of Management Practice, 2009 Vol.3 No.4, pp.383 - 404

Published online: 11 Jul 2009 *

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