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Understanding Your Customer’s Needs

A 2-Day Workshop on Quality Function Deployment for Product Development - 13 August & 10 September 2001

The Rationale: Product Innovation for Global Competitiveness

The global manufacturing and service domains are becoming increasingly integrated and competitive. Competition is based extensively on innovative capabilities, management prowess, and technological competence. The promulgation of World Trade Organisation (WTO) regulations involving decreasing tariff and non-tariff protection for subscribing countries, of which South Africa is one, will further intensify the degree of competition that local companies will be subjected to in future.

What is Quality Function Deployment? Quality function deployment (QFD) is a customer-oriented planning methodology for product innovation. It involves a comprehensive and systematic cross-functional procedure that aids in the definition, design, development, manufacturing, and support of improved or new products and services. QFD ensures that products are defined and designed in harmony with user expectations. It offers producers of products an opportunity to enhance their own competitiveness and the ability to participate at world-class standards in the global economy. QFD has been rapidly adopted in a number of domains in North America and Europe, including electronics, aerospace, biomedical, software, food, government, military, and service industries.

Workshop Format and Content: The Workshop will consist of both formal presentations and hands-on interactions in team context, covering the following topics:

The changing landscape of global competition in products and services
Overview of product innovation methodologies
Description and benefits of QFD
How QFD relates to and supports Concurrent Product Development
Overview of the QFD methodology:
Market segmentation and targeting
Obtaining the Voice of the Customer
Uncovering real user needs from the Voice of the Customer
Discovering unspoken user needs
Translating user requirements into product definition & design
Exciting the Customer: Designing product features to satisfy real needs
Deployment of manufacturing processes and product components using QFD
The relationship of QFD to TQM and other Quality initiatives
Case study and practical exercises
Implementing QFD in your firm: do's and don'ts
The workshop includes case study work to gain interactive and hands-on experience. Participants will be provided with documentation, contacts and networking information, that will enable them to introduce QFD into their own companies. They will also get the opportunity to see how dedicated QFD software is applied to the case study.

Who Should Attend: The workshop is directed towards managers and functional staff responsible for product innovation in functional business areas such as product design & development, technology and knowledge management, marketing, R&D, product commercialisation, finance and strategy.

Workshop Presenters: Mr Jeff Benson, a senior engineer of the National Product Development Centre (NPDC), with 17 years of experience in materials engineering and product development, will lead the workshop. He will be assisted by Mr Michael de Cloedt, a consultant in process improvement, quality management and business excellence.

Where, When & How Much: The Workshop will be held on 13 August and 10 September 2001, daily from 08:00 to 16:30. Participants will have to perform an assignment between the two days. It will be presented in the facilities of the National CAD/CAM/CAE Training Centre in Building 19B, CSIR, Meiring Naude Road, Brummeria, Pretoria. (map to CSIR at http://www.csir.co.za/images/furniture/map_pretoria.gif)

The registration fee for the two days of the Workshop is R2200 (VAT incl.). This includes teas/coffees, lunches and workshop materials. A 40% discount will apply for students.

Registration address: QFD Workshop, Attention: Marina Nell, CE at UP (Pty) Ltd, Private Bag X41, 0028 Hatfield

When using fax or e-mail to register, kindly remit payment separately. Cheques must be made payable to CE at UP (Pty) Ltd. Please register early, since a limited number of participants can be accommodated on the Workshop.

Registration and payment are due before or on 6 August 2001

Cancellations after the payment due date will be subject to a 50% cancellation fee.

ENQUIRIES For further enquiries and registration please contact: Marina Nell, Course Co-ordinator, Continuing Education at University of Pretoria (Pty) Ltd Tel: (012) 420 5010 Fax: (012) 362 5285 e-mail: marina.ce@up.ac.za

or, for technical content:

Mr Jeff Benson, National Product Development Centre, CSIR Tel: (012) 841 2226 Fax: (012) 3378 e-mail: jbenson@csir.co.za