Title: An analysis of quality function deployment (QFD) application by automotive assemblers and autoparts companies in Brazil

Authors: Jose Antonio Carnevalli, Paulo Augusto Cauchick Miguel

Addresses: Escola Politecnica, Departamento de Engenharia de Producao, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Av. Prof. Almeida Prado, Trav. 2 no. 128, 05508-900 Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil. ' Escola Politecnica, Departamento de Engenharia de Producao, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Av. Prof. Almeida Prado, Trav. 2 no. 128, 05508-900 Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil

Abstract: In recent years, three field studies on QFD application were conducted in Brazil. This paper presents the specific results from companies within the automotive sector. Field research involved a survey using mail questionnaire, interviews with QFD users, and a more recent questionnaire sent electronically. To analyse the results, four relevant factors of QFD application were identified based on the QFD literature: prerequisites for its use, difficulties experienced, methodological constraints and the benefits of using QFD. The majority of relevant factors were confirmed by the empirical data. It is then recommend that companies consider these factors in QFD application. The most mentioned difficulty was working with large matrices. Conclusively, QFD is an important method for the automotive companies but not all of them apply it to full potential. They consider QFD to be complex and time consuming and there is still room for its improvement.

Keywords: QFD; quality function deployment; automotive sector; product development; Brazil; automobile industry; automotive assembly; automotive components; autoparts.

DOI: 10.1504/IJATM.2011.038121

International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management, 2011 Vol.11 No.1, pp.49 - 66

Published online: 13 Mar 2015 *

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