Title: Analysing of customer feedback on critical quality parameters to improve productivity in manufacturing - a case study

Authors: I.S. Stephan Thangaiah; Vinay Sharma; Vembar Nainar Sundharam

Addresses: VIT Business School, VIT University, Vellore-632014, Tamil Nadu, India ' Department of Production Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi 835-215, Jharkhand, India ' Futurenet Technologies (India) Pvt. Ltd., Maduravoyal, Chennai-600095, India

Abstract: Free market economy, technology innovation and peer's competition have forced manufacturing industries to adopt new strategies to sustain. To capture more market space against tough competency, industries are offering more options to buyers. This has indirectly reflected on industry's profit. Hence industries are concentrating all best possible method to overcome it. Traditionally, quality function deployment (QFD) has been used as a strategic tool to introduce cost effective new product development. This paper explores application of QFD differently. It analyses the manufacturing industry's operational process to achieve zero defect products which reduces raw material wastage, increase productivity and profitability. A study was conducted to understand the customer's preference of beverage products in Tamil Nadu State, India and prioritised them using analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and constructed zero defect quality matrix. All critical operational quality parameters are analysed and ranked. Suitable actions were recommended based on the observations.

Keywords: quality function deployment; QFD; analytical hierarchy process; AHP; value chain; zero defect; beverage industry.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPQM.2018.089805

International Journal of Productivity and Quality Management, 2018 Vol.23 No.3, pp.349 - 368

Received: 04 Aug 2016
Accepted: 31 Dec 2016
Published online: 12 Feb 2018 *

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