ABSTRACT
Chapter 2 introduces the reader to the challenges in which almost all organizations must compete in terms of value creation, value delivery, and value management. And while Quality Function Deployment (QFD) has traditionally been applied in the value-creation area, it is increasingly being applied to rapidly redesign how value delivery and value management are done. It then addresses that growing the top line of an organization’s income statement, thus increasing revenue, can be attributed directly to adding “inherent value” to customers and that QFD plays an important role in planning, managing, and directing new “value propositions” while simultaneously showing a reduction to the cost side of the profit-and-loss equation. The discussion then explains that markets can shift quickly once a new competitor enters the market and that one of the most important “moves” in the “game” is to make new products or services available before the competition does. It then emphasizes that QFD, with a key focus on “cycle time reduction,” helps development teams make key decisions early in the development cycle. Finally, the chapter concludes with a discussion on the challenges to rapid product development and how QFD contributes by standardizing customer needs, prioritizing efforts, providing risk assessments, and providing enhanced communications.
