Six Sigma organizations understand that the customer is the central focus of all business operations and activities. Six Sigma organizations are in tune with what their customers want, need, and expect and in turn, offer their customers products (both goods and services) that match these wants, needs and expectations. Six Sigma organizations are in constant contact with their customers to make sure that these products and services meet the customers’ perceived value.

The Quality Function Deployment (QFD) matrix is one tool that helps organizations to consider the customer “voice” (Six Sigma, p. 37) when developing new products and managing existing products (goods and services). Customer wants, needs, and expectations are carefully considered to allow the organization to get the product right the first time with little or no guesswork or room for error.

Many of you express a desire to open your own business! Consider a product (good or service) that your business would market or offer to your customers. If your own business is not possible, then consider a product where you currently work or where a close family member works. Complete the following steps in this lab assignment:

Describe the product. Remember: A product can be a good or a service.
Identify and describe your customers.
Identify eight ways a customer will recognize or perceive quality in this product. These are the “wants, needs, and expectations” that customers have for a product.
Hint: This is your customers’ “voice.” You may need to conduct a brief survey of a current or potential customer so that you “hear” this voice.
Rank these eight pieces of information from the customer in order of importance and arrange these eight pieces of customer input on the horizontal component of the QFD.
Next, determine how the organization will react to each one of these customer wants. Record these technical requirements on the vertical component of the QFD.
Summarize your findings in your QFD.
How will the technical responses to customer wants affect customer satisfaction?
How do you think you will perform against your competitors?
What do you need to emphasize if you are offering a product that focuses on customer wants, needs, and expectations?

Hint: Create your QFD matrix in either a Word chart or in Excel. If you use Excel for the QFD matrix, you must upload both your Excel file and your Word file for grading using instructions below.

Grading and Assignment Criteria

QFD Matrix Preparation: Organization, sequence, gathering of data

50%

Summary Analysis: Critical thinking; deductive reasoning

25%

Written communication: grammar, syntax, structure, citation

25%

Total

100%

Cite any outside resources (including interviews) with APA double citation. This means to cite within your text and provide the full source citation at the end of your paper.
Simply providing a web link is not adequate and will be considered intentional plagiarism.
Failure to properly cite your sources may result in failing this assignment and failing this course.