Page 81 - DLIS406_ACADEMIC_LIBRARY_SYSTEM

Academic Library System

Notes development and design stage. By doing so, the final product can satisfy the customers. Two
important techniques for designing quality products are quality function deployment (QFD)
and Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA).
Quality function deployment is a structured approaches that:
(a) identifies and ranks the relative importance of customer requirements;
(b) identifies design parameters (or engineering characteristics) that contribute to the customer
requirements;
(c) estimates the relationship between design parameters and customer requirements and
among different design parameters; and
(d) sets target values for the design parameters to best satisfy customer requirements.
AQFD matrix (or house of quality) is frequently used to translate prioritized customer requirements
into identifiable and measurable product specifications and engineering requirements to reduce
functional variation and costs, thereby facilitating the decision-makers in making design related
decisions. Many investigators have successfully applied QFD in product and service design.
Failure Mode and Effect Analysis is a methodical approach to examine a proposed design for
possible ways in which failure can occur (Juran 1989, 1993). FMEA consists of:
(a) identifying and listing modes of failure and the subsequent faults;
(b) assessing the probability of these faults;
(c) assessing the probability that the faults are detected;

(d) assessing the severity of the consequences of the faults;
(e) calculating a measure of the risk;
(f) ranking the faults on the basis of the risk;
(g) attempting to resolve the high-risk problems; and
(h) verifying the effectiveness of the action by using a revised measure of risk (Gilchrist
1993).

Notes In addition to providing preliminary information on reliability prediction, product
and process design, FMEA helps engineers identify potential problems in the product
earlier, thereby avoiding costly changes or reworks at later stages.

Closely scrutinizing quality management reveals that many techniques are based on experience
derived from manufacturing tangible products. Whether or not quality management practices
can be transferred to a service industry delivering intangible services has received considerable
attention. Many investigators confer that:
(a) the service and manufacturing industries differ in terms of the characteristics of quality,
(b) different criteria must be used for measuring these industries, and
(c) the focus of quality management is rather different than similar.
The final manufacturing products can be measured objectively, while the quality can be managed
by output control. Meanwhile, the deliverables of services are frequently intangible, which is
difficult to measure objectively. In addition to the simultaneously delivery and consumption
of services, the quality certainly cannot be managed by either output control or process control.
Brophy and Coulling (1996) indicated that with the broad applications in the service sector,
the sector has come to the recognition that some aspects of quality management must be
approached somewhat differently in the service industry. The most distinguishing characteristic

76 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY