Title: QFD for utility services: a case study of electricity distribution company DESCO

Authors: Md. Rajib Anwar, A.K.M. Masud, Farhana Abedin, Muhammad Enayet Hossain

Addresses: Department of Industrial and Production Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Dhaka-000, Bangladesh. ' Department of Industrial and Production Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Dhaka-000, Bangladesh. ' Department of Industrial and Production Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Dhaka-000, Bangladesh. ' Department of Industrial and Production Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Dhaka-000, Bangladesh

Abstract: Service industries have become very competitive and customers are more concerned about quality today. Customers nowadays are very choosy for spending money. Quality product or service is their first and foremost preference. For a service provider, the challenge is to tune up their service with all desirable qualities so that the customers| expectations are met. This paper focuses on the application of quality function deployment on a utility service company to improve its quality of service through designing the house of quality matrix. The objective of this work is to provide the case company: DESCO that distributes and commercialises electrical energy with a methodology that allows them to identify the focal point of their organisation. This should also determine on which processes, customer service channels or other services, they should concentrate in order to satisfy their customer|s expectations while continuously improving quality.

Keywords: quality function deployment; QFD; utility services; house of quality; HOQ; voice of customer; VOC; electricity distribution; customer satisfaction; quality improvement.

DOI: 10.1504/IJQI.2010.034647

International Journal of Quality and Innovation, 2010 Vol.1 No.2, pp.184 - 195

Published online: 13 Aug 2010 *

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