A strategy for the implementation of quality function deployment in the design-construction industry

The built environment contributes directly to the quality of life (QOL) by providing the means for viability, and indirectly by affecting the natural, social, and psycho-emotional environmental components. In this sense, the quality of the built environment may be defined in terms of its ability to satisfy the actual needs and expectations of the community it serves. Furthermore, the design-construction industry (DCI) contributes to the efficiency of a wide range of economic and social activities, and to the productivity and competitiveness of nations. An analysis of the various quality improvement approaches developed in recent years indicates that the concept of quality by design is the most effective means to achieve quality. Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is a design and problem solving philosophy consistent with the principles of quality by design. The adoption of the QFD philosophy by the DCI is proposed here as the means to improve the quality of the built environment. This research defines the instructional objectives required to design QFD educational programs for the design professionals of the DCI. To achieve this goal: (1) existing QFD models are identified, (2) a QFD model applicable to the design-construction process is developed, (3) the principles and procedures of the QFD methodology are described, (4) the characteristics required to develop and implement QFD schema are derived, and (5) the instructional objectives (in terms of knowledge, skills, and values) that imply the characteristics required to develop and implement QFD schema are identified. The following seven results were obtained: (1) a comprehensive, discipline independent description of QFD; (2) the consistent and precise terminology required to communicate in a QFD environment; (3) notation for representing and documenting QFD models and procedures; (4) the understanding of QFD as a design and problem solving philosophy; (5) the description of QFD in the knowledge domain; (6) the precise definition of the elements of QFD in the knowledge domain; and (7) the identification and classification of the instructional objectives required to design QFD educational programs.