Conclusion — Capturing Customer Requirements

QFD ties customer requirements that lead to competitive advantage with the activities and processes that make up the supply chain. Before starting, a QFD user should be aware of the differences that can exist in customer preferences. This could lead to sphere definition early, or at least some candidate spheres. When survey results are known, focused supply chains can cater to the customer requirements addressed by each sphere. QFD leads to a design for the questionnaires and organizes the resulting data to speed decision making. 

Note that Acme used the approach to develop enable activities. These include Activity Costing, Consistent Measures, Master Planning, Utilization Maximization, and Process Reengineering. These provide third-order support for other activities so they do not necessarily rank high with customers. But they are necessary building blocks to improve customerfacing performance. 

Bnisse, Warren, Statistics for Six Siema Made Easy , New York McGraw-Hill, 2004. 

---