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The origins of QFD

QFD was originally developed in Japan by Yoji Akao and Shigeru Mizuno, and first applied in 1972 by Mitsubishi at their Kobe shipyards.

Over the following twenty years it was predominantly applied to product development. In this form, its distinctive shape, and its focus on direct dialogue with the customer, earned it the names by which you may be more familiar with it: ‘House of Quality’ and ‘Voice of the Customer’.

In the mid ’80s, QFD began to be adopted in the West, but it was not until the early ’90s that its potential for redesigning organisations was recognised. As a result, many books and papers now exist on the application of QFD for product development, but sadly, very few provide guidance on the use of the tool for business design.

Proceed to: How QFD works; Benefits of QFD; Applications; Links to other tools, or return to QFD overview.