Using quality function deployment to conduct assessment for engineering designs' contractors

Construction is considered a highly competitive industry where excellence in providing services is highly appreciated by customers and is a key factor for success. Hence, many construction companies are keen to implement quality assurance programs especially in highly related customer service providers such as engineering design. In this paper quality function deployment (QFD) is used to assess and improve the quality of design services. In QFD the quality matrix is used to assess the correlation between customer and technical requirements (TRs). The method then proceeds to find weights of different TRs, based on their correlation with customers' requirements, enabling the evaluators to rank them based on their customers' importance. This research also provides an assessment for contracting designers based on customers' evaluation. A case study is presented for a large-scale public company in Saudi Arabia. The QFD matrix identified 20 customers' requirements and 13 groups of TRs (184 detailed requirements). The results identified the high-ranked TRs (most influential items). In addition, the paper also ranked design contractors based on their customers' satisfaction level. This can be used as a ranking mechanism for the selection of design firms.Construction is considered a highly competitive industry where excellence in providing services is highly appreciated by customers and is a key factor for success. Hence, many construction companies are keen to implement quality assurance programs especially in highly related customer service providers such as engineering design. In this paper quality function deployment (QFD) is used to assess and improve the quality of design services. In QFD the quality matrix is used to assess the correlation between customer and technical requirements (TRs). The method then proceeds to find weights of different TRs, based on their correlation with customers' requirements, enabling the evaluators to rank them based on their customers' importance. This research also provides an assessment for contracting designers based on customers' evaluation. A case study is presented for a large-scale public company in Saudi Arabia. The QFD matrix identified 20 customers' requirements and 13 groups of TRs (184 detailed requirements). The results identified the high-ranked TRs (most influential items). In addition, the paper also ranked design contractors based on their customers' satisfaction level. This can be used as a ranking mechanism for the selection of design firms.