House of Quality

1
House of Quality

• Freshman Clinic II
• (Based on a Lecture by Dr. K. Dahm in Fall
  Sophomore Clinic 2003)

2
Objective

• After this presentation you will be able to
• Generate a list of customer attributes
  associated with a quality consumer product.
• Construct a House of Quality to determine how
  customer attributes map into a set of specific
  engineering characteristics.
• Develop a set of engineering specifications for
  a quality consumer product.

3
What is Quality?
Quality. You know what it is, yet you don't
know what it is.  ...some things are better than
others, that is, they have more quality.  But
when you try to say what the quality is, apart
from the things that have it, there's nothing to
talk about.  But if you can't say what quality
is...how do you know that it even exists?  ...but
for all practical purposes it really does exist. 
Why else would people pay fortunes for some
things and throw others in the trash pile? 
Obviously some things are better than
others...but what's the "betterness"? ...What the
heck is quality?  What is it? Zen and the Art
of Motorcycle Maintenance Robert Pirsig, 1974
4
Customer Attributes
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder In terms
of quality, we can restate this as
follows Quality is in the eye of the
customer. Customer Attributes (CAs) What are
the physical attributes that a customer might
associate with a quality product?
Customer Attributes are vague subjective vary
with individual based on personal values
5
Customer AttributesAutomobile Door
Customer Attributes

• Easy to close from outside
• Stays open on a hill
• Easy to open from outside
• Doesnt kick back
• Doesnt leak in rain
• No road noise

6
Engineering Characteristics
Engineering Characteristics(ECs) What are the
engineering characteristics responsible for
creating the customer attributes associated with
a quality product.
Engineering Characteristics are specific technica
l can either positively affect or negatively
affect a CA trade-off against one-another
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Engineering CharacteristicsAutomobile Door
Engineering Characteristics

• Energy to close door
• Check force level ground
• Check force 10o Slope
• Door seal resistance
• Road noise reduction
• Water resistance

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CAs vs. ECs How are they related?
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Automobile Door
10
House of Quality Exercises

• Flashlight
• Portable Water Filter