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University

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is to certify that the

thesis entitled
APPLICATION OF QUALITY FUNCTION DEPLOYMENT IN

THE PRODUCTION OF FLEXIBLE PACKAGING MATERIAL

presented by

MARIA INES RUBINO

has been accepted towards fulfillment
of the requirements for

M.S. d . PACKAGING
egree in

 

 

[M 5;qu

Major professor

Hugh Lockhart

June 16, 1989

MS U is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Institution

PLACE IN RETURN BOX to remove this checkout from your record.
TO AVOID FINES return on or baton date duo.

 

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APPLICATION OF QUALITY FUNCTION DEPLOYMENT

IN THE PRODUCTION OF FLEXIBLE PACKAGING MATERIAL

BY

Maria Ines Rubino

A THESIS

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

MASTER OF SCIENCE

School of Packaging

1989

(Do 4 3% 4 c

ABSTRACT

APPLICATION OF QUALITY FUNCTION DEPLOYMENT IN THE
PRODUCTION OF FLEXIBLE PACKAGING
by

Maria Ines Rubino

The Quality Function Deployment (Q.F.D.) model was described
and the flexible packaging industry was characterized and
an application of Q.F.D. in the flexible packaging industry
was considered. For this application, a detailed study of
the package user requirements was outlined and several
documents were proposed which give a framework for the
process of developing Q.F.D. in a convertor company.
Several recommendations were made for the use of Q.F.D. in
packaging. The advantages and the benefits of the model were

outlined.

To Elbio Rubino my father and best friend.

ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my sincere thanks and appreciation
to:

Dr. Hugh E. Lockhart for his guidance, advice and
encouragement throughout my graduate program .

Dr. Ruben Hernandez for his invaluable support, counsel

and assistant.

Dr. Dennis Gilliland and Dr. Susan Selke for serving on the
guidance committee and for their inestimable advice.

Multiprint S.A. who made this work possible and worthwhile.

Thanks are expressed to all my family, Rita Frank and Marie
Concannon, Dr. Heidi Hojjat, Paula Palmer, Beatriz Fontana,
Maria Elena Barrios, Ana Lia Barrios, Jerom Reide and all my
friends who provide motivation and support to make this

achievment possible.

iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF FIGURES

I. INTRODUCTION

II. LITERATURE REVIEW

A. Quality Design Definition

B. Quality Function Deployment

C. Quality Function Deployment Tools

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Affinity Diagram

Tree Diagram

Matrix Diagram

Interrelationship Digraph

Matrix Data Analysis

Process Decision Program Chart (PDPC)
Arrow Diagram

D. Quality Function Deployment Description

E. An Approach to Quality Function Deployment

F. Significance of Quality Function Deployment

III. APPLICATION OF Q.F.D. IN A CONVERTOR COMPANY

A. Quality Function Deployment (Q.F.D.) in
Packaging

B. Description of the Flexible Packaging
Industry

1.
2.

User’s requirements

Understanding and processing information
from supplier as it affects user’s
requirements

iv

Page

10
11
12
14
14
15
17
18
21

25

28

28

29

31
32

3. How the user and supplier will constrain

and influence the converter

C. Application of Q.F.D. to the Flexible
Packaging Industry

1. Converter processes information from

ghe user
2., onvertor processes information from

/,1

.L/

the supplier

D. Specific application of Q.F.D. to a
Flexible Package Material

1.
2.

3.
4.
5.
6.

7.

Accounting for user’s requirements
Correlation between quality
characteristics and user’s requirements
Identification of significant quality
characteristics

Identification of the components and
component characteristics and their
relation with quality characteristics
Deployment of components

Analyzing the production process and
control system

Control system and process control

B. Practical Example of Application of Q.F.D.

F. Practical and Organizational Consideration for
Q.F.D. Application

IV CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY

33

36

37

4O

42

43

51

56

59

63

66

69

73

87

9O

92

 

LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE PAGE
1 Taguchi Loss Function 5
2 Deming Cycle or Shewart Cycle 15
3 House of Quality 23
4 Start-up cost and preproduction costs of 26
Toyota Autobody before and after Q.F.D.
5 Diagram of the flow of a flexible packaging 29
material from supplier to consumer.
6 . Document 1: User Requirements 46
7 Document 2: Rating of User Requirements 49
8 Document 3: Correlation of User Requirements 53
' with Material Quality
Characteristics
9 Document 4: Selection of Critical Quality 58

Characteristics Significant to
User’s Requirements

10 Document 5: Selection of Package Components 61
and Assignment of Component
Characteristics to Critical
Quality Characteristics

11 Document 6: Deployment of Components and 65
Component Characteristics into
Critical Component Properties 9

12 Document 7: Designation of Process Control 68

Points and Check Sites for Critical
Component Properties of
Raw Material and Processes

vi

13

14
15
16
17
18
19
20

21

Document 8: Statistical Process Control Plan
for Critical Component Properties
of Raw Material and Processes

Document
Document
Document
Document
Document
Document
Document

Document

1:

2:

3:

4:

5:

6:

7:

8:

Numerical
Numerical
Numerical
Numerical
Numerical
Numerical
Numerical

Numerical

Example
Example
Example
Example
Example
Example
Example

Example

vii

71

75

76

78

80

82

84

85

86

I . INTRODUCTION

The objective of this work is to define a method by which
quality can be designed into the product. Once the concept
is defined, a model will be proposed and an application in
the packaging area specific to the production of flexible

packages will be considered.

It is important to keep in mind that after a model is
developed theoretically, the process of implementation is
very costly and time-consuming. Therefore it is critical to
develop models which provide a reliable degree of assurance

of good results.

The first step is to consider and understand the needs of
the specific industry and as a consequence to define in
detail the goals, considering the company management
policies. Once the objectives of quality are established, a

commitment will result.

In this work the Quality Function Deployment (Q.F.D.) model
will be considered. This method is a new approach to quality
design and it has been shown to be very successful in all

those industries in which it has been used.

One of its characteristics is its versatility; it can be
adapted to many different situations. Q.F.D. has been used
in very diverse fields; for example, the automotive and
digital equipment fields, and the result has been very
positive.-

Q.F.D. as a model provides the means to analyze quality
through the understanding of the product. It is a model that
will break down the product into its elemental components,
parts and functions, improve them and finally integrate them
into the product itself. Two key features of the model are
that quality will be designed into the product and customer
views will play a major role in the process. These

characteristics, in fact, give strength to the model.

This work will first describe the Q.F.D. model, and the
Flexible Package Industry. Further it will suggest what
steps need to be followed for the implementation of the
model in the specific case of flexible packaging material.
Finally a series of documents will be developed which will
help as a guide for the organization and execution of the

model.

II. LITERATURE REVIEW
A. QUALITY DESIGN DEFINITION

Quality is a means by which a product will fulfill customer
needs. There are many expectations placed on quality and
most of them are not well defined. It is important to
understand the quality concept to visualize its possible
uses. Quality must be designed into the product and then it
must be controlled during the production process. These are
two aspects of quality which are different but they

interrelate and one influences the other.

The main aspect which will be discussed in this work is
quality design. The process of designing and implementing
quality requires the cooperation of all people in the
company. This type of involvement will include the
President, Directors, middle managerial staff, line workers,
salesmen and also affiliated companies. This approach to
quality which requires the collaboration, cooperation and
participation of all workers in all different departments
and areas is defined as Company Wide Quality Control
(C.W.Q.C.) or total quality control (Ishikawa 1985, Sullivan

May 1986).

4
Ishikawa emphasizes how education plays an important role in
dealing with quality. His approach requires that all persons
involved understand what quality is and eventually apply and
encourage quality control in their own area. It is important
to provide quality control courses which are well defined
for each area or department since "quality control begins
and ends with education" (Ishikawa 1985:pp. 91). He stated
that a defective product will not only be inconvenient to
the consumer but also will affect the company since it will
waste raw material and energy and will diminish the

company’s image. This waste is also a loss for society.

According to Genichi Taguchi (Byrne and Taguchi, 1987), "the
quality of a product is the minimum loss imparted by the
product to the society from the time the product is
shipped." This loss will relate to the product that reaches
the consumer. The loss includes consumer dissatisfaction,
added warranty cost to the producer, and loss due to a
company having a bad reputation and losing market share.
Loss can even take place in products that fall within
specification, because loss increases as variability takes
place within the expected specified values. Taguchi
developed a loss function and found that a quadratic
function describes loss in several cases. The loss increases

as the product deviates from the target value as shown in

5
figure 1. To reduce the loss the product must be produced

with minimal variation (Barker, 1986).

loss

 

 

 

L- k ( 2-102

where:

L - loss in dollars

k - cost coefficient

Y a value of quality characteristic

T - target value

Figure 1: Taguchi’s Loss Function (Byrne

and Taguchi 1987: 20).

The key element for achieving high quality and low cost is
parameter design. Parameter design is based on classifying
the variables that influence a product’s performance into

two categories: design parameters and source of noise.

Design parameters are also described as controllable
factors. Sources of noise could be described as
uncontrollable factors: in general, these are responsible
for causing a product quality characteristic to deviate from
its target value. There are three types of noise:

1) inner noise: this includes variability intrinsic in
the manufacturing process, for example aging of
machinery.

ii) outer noise: these are external conditions, such
as temperature and humidity, which influence or
affect product performance.

iii) between product noise: this is associated with

manufacturing imperfection.

To control these factors is very costly and sometimes very
difficult, or even impossible, to do. Therefore it is
important to select controllable factors which make the
product process less sensitive to change. Instead of finding
and eliminating causes of variation, since the causes are
often noise factors, the impact of the cause should be
removed or at least reduced. The goal is to improve quality
by reducing impact of noise factors and thus, eventually, to

reduce cost.

Parameter design is a tool to reduce noise factors and

7
reduce cost, by recognizing controllable factors and
treating them separately from each other. The key element is
to discover interaction between parameters and noise
factors. There is no need to completely identify the noise
factor, as long as the noise factor is changed or reduced in
a balanced way through different trials (Byrne and Taguchi
1987, and Kackar 1985). This approach emphasizes the
significance of Quality Design. Quality Function Deployment
(Q.F.D.) provides a method to apply quality design to a ~l

product.

B. QUALITY FUNCTION DEPLOYMENT

In 1972, Kobe Shipyard of Mitsubishi Industries Ltd.,
introduced the idea of Q.F.D. In Japanese the word
deployment means extension or broadening of activities. The
Q.F.D. means that the production of quality is a concern and
a responsibility of all areas and persons in the
corporation. Some specific cases of deployment before 1977
were described in Mizuno and Akao’s book, Quali;y_£nngtign
WW,
which has been used as a work guide by many Japanese
companies (Kogure and Akao, 1983). The first U.S. study case
was in 1986 and since then, Q.F.D. has been growing rapidly.
The big three automotive companies are beginning to use

Q.F.D. and other, non-automotive users such as AT&T Bell

8
Laboratories, Omark Industries, Digital Equipment, and
Procter and Gamble, are implementing this method (Fortune,

1988).

According to Yoji Akao (King, 1987), Q.F.D.: "In many of the

cases reported, the use of Quality Deployment has cut in

half the problems at the beginning stages, and shortened

development time by one-half to one-third, all the while

assuring users' satisfaction and increasing sales". Q.F.D. K
"expands" the time it takes to define the product, but the

$2551 design process is "shortened" by focusing on

priorities, and it improves documentation during the process

(King 1987, Sullivan 1987)

Q.F.D. is a procedure that helps to design product and
services based on customer demands and requires the
involvement of all members. Several charts and documents
help to analyze the objective and outline the concept of
concern. Q.F.D. design is a process by which quality is
optimized. There is not a specific method or formula for
the implementation of Q.F.D. The Q.F.D. model needs to be
adapted to the specific product or service. It is also
important to notice that Q.F.D. will have a different
approach for different products in the same company. There
are some general tools and stages that will be described

later on in this work that will help in the implementation

9

of Q.F.D. (King 1987, Kukla 1986).

C. QUALITY FUNCTION DEPLOYMENT TOOLS

To be able to deal with Q.F.D. it is important to consider
tools which will help to gather and process information.
These tools will be significant for the development of the
product. These tools will determine and orient a path
through which the problem will be considered and significant
issues concerning the product design will be outlined. There
is a set of "seven new tools" (King 1987, Cohen 1988, Box
and Bisgaard 1987) which are:

1) Affinity Diagram

2) Tree Diagram

3) Matrix Diagram

4) Interrelationship Digraph

5) Matrix Data Analysis

6) Program Decision Process Chart

7) Arrow Diagram
These tools help to analyze data and eventually are used in
building up a relationship between ideas and attributes.
These tools organize and structure information in a way that
can be understood and the interrelationship perceived by all
the persons from different departments, or areas. For

implementation of Q.F.D., these tool are very important and

lO
require some attention ( King 1987, Cohen 1988). The best
detailed description of the seven new tools will be found in

King. The following is a brief description of these tools:

1mm

"This tool will help to build an overall hierarchical
structure of ideas" (Cohen, 1988). Information such as
ideas, opinions, and issues are collected and analyzed to
determine certain relationships between all the different
ideas. To understand its application some of the steps are
as follows:

Step 1: In Q.F.D. the ideas will come from the reaction
or comments of the customer. At this point what
is important is to determine general ideas of
the requirements and these will be the basic
elements or blocks.

Step 2: The ideas collected in Step 1 are grouped trying
to find some relation among them. This is just a
grouping of concepts or ideas or simple
suggestions.

Step 3: In the process, it is better that several persons
from different areas participate (at least 6
members should be present).

Step 4: In each group of ideas from Step 2, a successive
hierarchy of ideas will be formed where

different levels of significance will be

11

determined.

A practical way to implement the Affinity Diagram consists
of writing each idea on a separate card. The cards are then
arranged and moved to cluster those cards or ideas which
seem to relate and in this way a general concept is
obtained. Then these concepts are arranged in some order or
rank. This information is then written down on paper
defining and establishing a line of relationship within each

group of ideas or concepts.

This tool is used when the problem to be solved is complex
and there is some time available to deal with it. This tool
is very useful when ideas are not well defined, when they

are unstructured and not clear.

W

The Tree Diagram also deals with organizing and ranking
ideas. This tool uses the Affinity Diagram and tries to
structure the information using a more analytical and
technical approach. In other words, it will complete and
analyze the Affinity Diagram and a more logical and
structured information scheme will be obtained. This tool is
used when the objectives of achievement need to be
completely understood; it is used also when the

implementation of those objectives_needs to be known in

12

relation to a specific methodology.

To be able to understand the use of this tool the following

steps describe its implementation:

Step 1:

Step 2:

Step 3:

Step 4:

Definition and description of the goal or problem,

which could come from the Affinity Diagram.

Then all the tasks, methods, causes should be

generated which will relate to the main goal

previously agreed upon. N
A code system will be created and the ideas

developed in Step 2 will be evaluated.

A construction of the Tree Diagram consists of

mapping and relating all ideas to the central

goal.

mum

This tool will help to evaluate the correlation of ideas

among each other. A set of ideas or items are placed on a

horizontal axis and another different group of concepts on

the vertical axis. Each interaction will define a specific

relation that needs to be evaluated for the relationship

between concepts.

This tool helps to visualize and relate different

characteristics, tasks, and functions in a logical

connection, giving a clear and graphical display of the

13

concepts. There are different types of matrices which could

be used depending on the nature of the problem to be

analyzed. The most

L-shaped Matrix:

T-shaped Matrix:

Y-shaped Matrix:

X-shaped Matrix:

C-shaped Matrix:

The implementation

common arrays are:

this is the basic one where column and
row are used to determine the interaction

between two sets of ideas.

this type will combine two L-shaped
matrices. This matrix system will
analyze two sets of ideas versus a third
set.

this type of matrix also helps to

analyze or compare three sets of ideas or
items among each other.

this is not very commonly used. It will
analyze the interaction of four sets of
items.

it is possible with this matrix to

visually represent the interrelation of

three sets of items by connecting the

three sets among each other at one

common point.

of this tool will be carried out

according to the following steps:

Step 1: The definition of the different sets of ideas that

need to be considered.

14
Step 2: Once the ideas are defined the proper matrix
type should be selected.
Step 3: The drawing of the matrix and the determination of
the relationships.
Step 4: A set of symbols needs to be considered which will
identify the degree of the relation among the

different sets of items that are being studied.

mm;

This tool will relate or link a central problem with ideas
or items and provide a visual means to accomplish the
solution to the obstacle under consideration. Once a problem
is defined, the ideas need to be organized, and the
Interrelationship Digraph will provide a very creative
pattern to solve the problem. An idea begins in a central
concept which will generate other ideas, from which
eventually a final outline in a specific pattern will
result. This tool will allow study of multivariable problems

and the different factor relationships.

This tool will use the information from the Matrix Diagram
and rearrange it in a way which could identify and show the

weight of the different variables.

15
WW;
Bob King defined PDPC as a tool which "maps out every
conceivable event and contingency that can occur when moving
from a problem statement to possible solutions. This tool is
used to plan each possible chain of events that need to
occur when the problem or goal is an unfamiliar one."
This tool was developed for use when the environment is
unknown or imperfect. Under such conditions, evaluation must
precede implementation. In 1950, Dr. Deming suggested the
diagram during a meeting at the Japanese Union of

Scientists and Engineers, J.U.S.E. (King, 1987):

/

CHECK

/ P
\

Figure 2: Deming Cycle or Shewart Cycle

(King 1988: Appendix A-2)

16

"We Elan what we want to accomplish over a period of time
and what we are going to do to get there.

We pg something that furthers the goals and strategies

developed in number 1.

We Check the results of our actions to make sure that there
is a close fit between what we hoped to accomplish and what

was actually achieved.

We Ag; by making the changes that are needed in order to

more closely achieve the initial goals or develop procedures
to assure continuance of those plans that were successful."
(King 1988 Appendix A-2)

There are a few steps which could help the implementation of
this tool:

Step 1: A detailed study of the total Tree Diagram must
be done.

Step 2: Each branch of the Tree Diagram must be
questioned for possible problems that could take
place.

Step 3: Enumerate possible actions to be taken
throughout the branch of the Tree Diagram and
connect them.

Step 4: The whole system should be considered with the
inclusion made, with old and new paths.

This study should be made only in those branches in which

modification will be made.

17

W

This tool helps to organize the task in a proper schedule
and helps to control the process. It is used when the
objective or task is known and the duration of each step is

familiar.

The implementation consists of:

Step 1: All the steps of the project are known and
their durations are also known. Those steps are
listed.

Step 2: Each stage is considered and the relation between
each one is defined and the path is established.

Step 3: After the path is outlined, the nodes are
identified which are the beginning and the end of
a task.

Step 4: The duration of each task is considered.

Step 5: By considering Steps 3 and 4, the beginning and
ending time of each node is established.

Step 6: The critical paths are individualized.

Step 7: Finally the beginning and the end of the project
is determined.

This tool is closely related to the Pert Diagram method.

18

D. QUALITY FUNCTION DEPLOYMENT DESCRIPTION

Q.F.D. provides a series of documents that can be used as a
guide for the work and also a way to record all information
in a meaningful way. The Q.F.D. will focus on the product or
service as the main objective of the project and supply the
means by which all different areas such as Research and
Development, Marketing, Finance, Production etc., interact
in a smooth and effective way. Q.F.D. coordinates the

efforts of all persons involved in the project .

There is not a standard procedure by which Q.F.D. should be
implemented but there are four phases described by B. King

which will help to outline the procedure:

1) The organizing phase: In this phase the product or
service that is going to be improved is identified, as
well as the persons and departments that are going to

participate in the project.

2) The descriptive phase: The product or the service is
viewed from different perspectives. In this phase the
following items will be considered:

i) Customer Demand
ii) Substitute Quality Characteristics: these are the

elements that the producer will control in order to

3)

4)

19
fulfill the customer demands.
iii) Functions: what the product does or the product's
action.
iv) Mechanism: this is the first level of detail or
subgroup in the Q.F.D.outline.
v) Components: second level of detail in the Q.F.D.
study.
vi) New concept: new ideas about the product or the
components of such a product or service.
vii) Product Failure Mode: study the product or service
to determine how and why it fails.
viii) Component Failure Mode: consider the failure of

components of the product as in vii.

The break-through phase: This phase is the elaboration
stage where the different items mentioned in the
descriptive phase are combined in a matrix and the
interrelations are evaluated. Several matrices will be

produced depending on the objectives which were set.

The implementation phase: The design process is different
for each product or service depending on the company
structure and on the product or service considered.

With this in mind it is possible to define certain

steps to be followed:

i) Product Planning: this requires identification of

20
the product, the need for improvement, and the
company policy with respect to the specific product
improvement. Inputs are necessary from several
departments such as marketing, sales, engineering,
research and development, production and quality
control. The competitors’ products will be studied
as well. The information is analyzed, usually under
matrix data analysis. The results of this study will
show how the product is perceived by the customer,
how it stands versus its competitors, and what type
of improvement will be necessary.
ii) Individual Product Planning: various aspects of the
product will be compared among each other
by using the Matrix analysis and specific items of
improvement will be identified. This system allows a
view of the product from different dimensions.
At the end of this study a complete set of
improvements that need to be included in the
product will be identified.

iii) Product Design: at this point of the implementation
there are three stages. The first stage is the
product development, which includes the development
of both the product and the manufacturing process;
the second stage is the Prototype: and finally the

third stage is the Testing and Evaluation.

21

E. AN APPROACH TO QUALITY FUNCTION DEPLOYMENT

It is important to have a complete commitment of all persons
in the company to the implementation of Q.F.D. It also
requires specific training in the use of the tools and in
the understanding of the Q.F.D. concept. It is important to
emphasize that Q.F.D. is not only a method but also a
philosophy. The company that decides to use Q.F.D. must
provide for some time for training and the assimilation of

the new concept and ideas.

The ”House of Quality" diagram is one approach to construct
Q.F.D. The House of Quality is "a kind of conceptual map
that provides the means for interfunctional planning and
communication" ( Hauser and Clauseing 1988: Kenny, Khan and
Mayer 1988). It is a specialized matrix that enhance the
preparation of the Q.F.D. analysis. The House of Quality as
Hauser and Clauseing described it will allow all people from
different departments and having different responsibilities
to interact in pursuit of a common goal. It is an excellent
example of use of the matrix approach and it can serve as a

guide to design other matrices.

The outline of the House of Quality which follows will help
to understand this Q.F.D. approach. Referring to Figure 3

the House of Quality consists of:

22

1) Collecting the word of the customer. The information

2)

will be analyzed by using the Affinity or the Tree
Diagram. From this a list of the customer demands

will be clearly identified.

Filling in the Planning Matrix (see figure 3) will be as

follows:

i) on the left side of the central matrix the Customer

Needs will be listed.

ii) on the right side of the central matrix the Planning

Matrix will be outlined. This matrix will determine the
importance of the customer needs and a value will be
assigned which will represent its significance. This
matrix will include information concerning an
evaluation of the competitors’ product. Also it will
consider how the product is doing presently with
respect to each customer requirement. A "sales point"
will reflect how significant or powerful is the
requirement for sales purposes, so a value will

be assigned. A "ratio of improvement" will be
evaluated; this is how the product needs to improve
with respect to each requirement. After all the
information and values are obtained, a final value
will be obtained by which the raw weight of each
requirement will be obtained by combining all the

information outlined in this matrix.

23

  
 
 
 
 
 
 
    

Foeturs-te-teeture
correlations

Preduct teetures
and metrics

Customer

needs Planning

matrix

Correlsttons between
customer needs one
product teetures

Figure 3: "House of Quality" (Hauser and Clausing,

May-June 1988:202)

iii)

iv)

24
At the top of the House of Quality the Product Feature
Matrix is developed. This information comes from the
study of the product itself, its function and parts,
all features that constitute the product. This
information can be developed by the use of the
Affinity and the Tree Diagram tools.
The roof of the House of Quality consists of the
Feature to Feature Correlation. This matrix describes
the correlations of the parts or functions to each
other. A set of symbols will be developed to
determine the interaction. The information obtained
from this part of the House will determine what type of
feature or function needs attention from the different
development groups. In other words it will establish
the need for communication among the different
development groups.
The Correlation Between Customer Needs and Product
Features. First the interaction between the feature or
the function and the specific customer interaction will
be identified. Such interaction will be considered, and
the correlation will be defined. A set of symbols will
be developed by which a possible, moderate, strong or
no correlation will be determined. A value will be
assigned to each correlation symbol. Then the raw
weight Of each customer requirement obtained in the

Planning Matrix is multiplied by the correlation value

25
found in the Correlation between Customer Need and
Product Feature Matrix. This procedure will determine
the influence of each feature or function in meeting
each specific customer demand. Then all the cell values
of each column are added. At the bottom of the House
the number obtained ranks the importance of each

feature in meeting customer needs by raw weight.

The "House of Quality" was used as the basis for designs of
the matrix that form the analytical tools for the
application to packaging. Even though the House of Quality
will not appear in precisely the form shown above, the study
of the House of Quality and its conceptual basis led to the

method and documents that were used.

F. SIGNIFICANCE OF QUALITY FUNCTION DEPLOYMENT

The implementation of Q.F.D. in a company requires a lot of
effort in the planning procedure at the beginning of the
project but eventually the results of this effort will have'
many advantages in terms of product quality and cost saving.
Q.F.D. requires some coordination procedure and training for

implementation.

The results of the application of Q.F.D. in the automotive

26

industry have been very significant. For example, Q.F.D. was
used by Toyota. From January 1977 until April 1984, Toyota
introduced four new vehicles. In 1977 Toyota began to use
Q.F.D. It required four years of training and preparation.
The consequence of the use is shown in figure 4 . "Toyota
reported a 20% reduction in start-up costs on the launch of
a new van in October 1979: a 38% reduction at November 1982:
and a cumulative 61% reduction at April 1984. During this
period, the product development cycle (time to the market)
was reduced by one third with a corresponding improvement in

quality because of a reduction in the number of engineering

changes." (L.P. Sullivan, June 1986:50 ).

January 1977 (100%)

 

 

April 1934 (39%)

J

I Preproduction costs (Operator training. etc.)
CJEMHHmDOGmsmxs)

 

Figure 4: Start-up cost and preproduction costs of
Toyota autobody before and after Q.F.D.

(Sullivan, June 1986: 50)

27

Quality Function Deployment has been mainly applied and
studied in the automotive industry, and now the idea is
beginning to spread to other industries.

This work will try to use the principles already outlined
for the application of Q.F.D. in the packaging area. SinCe
this method has been proven to be very successful in all the
fields to which it has been applied up to now, it seems
likely that the adaptation of this method to packaging will

provide significant benefits.

III. APPLICATION OF Q.F.D. IN A CONVERTOR COMPANY

A. Q.F.D. IN PACKAGING

For ‘the. application. of’ Q.F.D. in. packaging, a flexible
package will be considered: specifically a laminated
flexible package. Even though only one type of packaging
industry is under consideration, this work is an attempt to

extend the use of Q.F.D. into the whole area of packaging.

In the use of Q.F.D., it is important to understand and
carefully analyze all aspects of the system and the nature
of the company. It is also very important to define the
product or service where the Q.F.D. is going to be applied.
The information concerning the market and the strategy of
the company toward the product or service, needs to be
known. Therefore, a description of the type of industry, the
inter-dependence between the converter and his customer, the
type of production, and the significance of quality will be
discussed for the flexible packaging industry, since all
these aspects will significantly contribute to the Q.F.D.
model.

28

 

29

B. DESCRIPTION OF FLEXIBLE PACKAGING INDUSTRY

This industry is very dynamic. A converter usually receives
raw material such as film or resins (like pellets) from a
supplier and converts these into laminate or film which will
also be printed. This packaging material will be used by a
user such as a feed or pharmaceutical company to pack their
respective products, and a consumer will finally use the
total of product and package. The package material in this
example will be used in the user’s company in Form-Fill-
Seal (F.F.S.) machinery. To understand the process, the

following diagram shows the sequence proposed:

 

SUPPLIER Provides resins, inks, adhesive,

foil,selvents.

CONVERTOR Extrudes film, laminates, prints, coats.
USER Packages product on form fill seal machines.

CONSUMER Public. Depends on user, converter and
supplier to provide a fresh, wholesome

product, properly identified at an acceptable

 

price.

 

Figure 5: Diagram of the flow of packaging material from

supplier to consumer.

30

The converter could produce a single layer or multilayer
laminate structure. The converter will have to deal with
different types of packaging material depending on the
product which will be packed and also on the user's
facilities. The converter needs to adapt all these factors,
so the production is not constant: it will vary with the
nature of the packaging material which is required for the

specific use.

The manufacturing process in a flexible packaging company is
very complex, because many steps must be done when a printed
flexible package material is produced. All the steps are
done in sequence and a very important interrelation exists
among all of them. Because the machinery is becoming very
highly automated, a proper adjustment of any step in the
process requires several trials, which means time and raw
material are expended. These represent high cost for the
converter and eventually for the user. The setting Of the
equipment depends greatly on the quality of the raw
material, the skill of the technical persons and operators,
and also the proper planning of the product and the
production process. An interruption in the production
process because of defects or variation from target
specification implies high cost and material waste.

Therefore, for efficient production, a converter must

31
consider constant training of their personnel and careful
and detailed product development. These two aspects will
interrelate, one affecting the other, and as a consequence,
Q.F.D. could play an important role in organizing and
designing the product, process and services at the

converter.

There are three key issues which need some attention for
understanding the converter framework:
1) User’s requirements
2) Understanding and processing of information
from supplier and user
3) How the user and supplier will constrain
and influence the converter production

process

11.nfisIL§_Bsgni£§m§n£§

The user under consideration is another company which has
specific requirements from the consumer. The user’s
requirements have in this case more'than one source. These
sources include consumer expectation, package material
performance at the user's facilities, package and product

interaction, product characteristics and cost.

When considering the consumer’s expectation, the user needs

to find out what the consumer wants from the package, such

32
as an easy-opening or reclosing. While the user can
recognize the specific needs or requirements of the
consumer, it is the user and the converter together who must
find the proper solutions to those consumer expectations.
When considering good machine performance such as good
sealing or cutting process, the packaging material need to
adapt to the user’s machinery for an efficient production

process. (Evenson, 1987)

The product such as food or drug that will be packed must be
carefully studied. The product will dictate requirements the
package needs to fulfill such as moisture or aroma barrier,
in order to maintain the product’s quality for a specific

period (Evenson 1987).

Cost plays an important role in packaging requirements. This
aspect will also determine what type of package could be
available, to fulfill the user’s marketing and sales

strategy.

IQ”); ; .>,e_ IL. ;!e_ e eL-:;,_e l “.10". 01 _. 9". __ ee :',

The information from the user must be carefully studied, but
also the converter needs have information from the raw
material supplier which will also help to fulfill users’

requirements. The converter needs to know the composition of

33
available raw materials and their conformance to
specification. This information is critical and needs to be
completely understood and available in an accessible format.
All this information needs to be integrated into the
packaging material design, since the converter must adapt to
the user’s expectation. The information must be detailed
and available to the converter. A constant study of the

manufacturing process should be maintained.

A system which could absorb new inputs coming from the above
mentioned studies, should be structured so that the
converter can constantly and efficiently adapt to user needs

and expectations.

1‘ ;u_ ‘,. .; .,. .q.. . ,' , .,. z , ,,. ,- -, .
W
The converter will produce package materials for different
users and also for different types of products to be
packed, such as food and drugs. These two classes of
products have different requirements for shelf life, for
example. Each package material will have different
characteristics and will also have a specific production
process. There are many parameters of the package material
which will vary depending on the user requirements and also
on the nature of the product to be packed. These involve for

example, material composition which can be laminated

34
structure or single film structure. A lamination can
consist of plastic, aluminum foil, or paper in varying
combinations. The laminating process will change depending
on the materials considered. The printing process will also
depend on the design required and the materials to be
printed. The inks to be used will depend on the printing
process used and also on the material which will be applied.
These few considerations are some from a long list of things
that the converter must take into account for each package
material. The variables are critical to the finished package
material performance, and each package material will have

its own specification list.

The converter needs to be versatile and able to adapt to
the user requirements quickly and efficiently. The converter
must be aware of the supplier resources since these will
dictate in many ways what type of package materials are
available. The converter must work closely with the supplier
to develop materials that fulfill the user needs and
expectations. Therefore the converter must be aware of and
understand the supplier’s technology and together they will

obtain suitable materials.

All these aspects show how dynamic is the flexible packaging
industry. There is an extensive load of information that

needs to be properly processed. Therefore a system should

35
exist that could absorb all information and provide an
efficient outcome in the package material development
process. It is not enough just to have the information
available: it is also important to be able to use it

efficiently.

Even if the flexible package is produced to specification,
if the package material is not well designed it could have
negative consequences for the user and for the consumer
because the specification is wrong. Sometimes a bad design
is not detected immediately. For example if a package
material lacks barrier properties so that it fails to
maintain the product’s freshness for the preestablished
time, then the product could spoil before it arrives at the
consumer. However, this would not be detected until long
after production of the package material. This could be very
dangerous for consumer safety and also for the user’s image.
Another type of problem occurs when the package material
produced according to specification will not perform well
at the user facilities. This will cause delay in the
production and also package material waste. Again, a bad
design is not detected until long after the material has

been produced.

These are two examples of consequences of a poor package

material design which will result in loss for the converter,

36
the user and eventually the consumer. A proper design is
critical in obtaining a package material that meets all
requirements. The converter, the supplier, and the user need
to participate in the development of the package material
design. Therefore a methodology should be considered that
processes the information from all the different areas and
industries involved. The Q.F.D. method provides this
approach to quality design. Through Q.F.D. quality can be
designed into the product and the packaging material
production will be done under specific and well-designed
specification, with pre-established variations of acceptable
size. Information will be prioritized and focused on
specific items and product development will account for the
user and consumer requirements. The package material and the
production process will be optimized by improving quality
and cost through the participation and collaboration of all
companies and areas involved in the quality design. This
follows the main principle of Company Wide Quality Control

(C.W.Q.C.), and Q.F.D. is a consequence of this principle.

C. APPLICATION OF Q.F.D. TO THE FLEXIBLE PACKAGING

INDUSTRY

The application of Q.F.D. implies that all persons at the

converter, the supplier and the user are aware of the Q.F.D.

 

37
concept and philosophy. This requires that each person in
each area be familiar with and completely understand and
participate in the development of the Q.F.D. method. At this
point top management must define and promote this idea and
they should motivate and encourage all people at different
levels to collaborate and participate in this approach. This

attitude is the key element in the implementation of Q.F.D.

WWW

To obtain information from the user and eventually process
such information, several meetings between the converter
and user must take place. The converter needs to learn and
understand about the product which will be packed and also
about the user facilities and machinery.

This information should be gathered from various sources,

including:

1) The user Marketing department, which will provide
information about consumer expectation concerning the
finished product; this will include printing design, package

function, cost, distribution system and distribution time.

2) User Research and Development department, which will
give information about the product’s chemical and physical

constitution and possible vulnerability.

38
3) User’s Production department, will give information

about packaging machinery and company facilities. This
information is very important since good package material
performance at the user’s facilities will depend very much
on the material’s chemical characteristics and on the
converting process. Hence, to be able to account for the
packaging material performance in the quality design, the

converter must understand the user’s F.F.S. machinery.

For this flow of information from the user to the converter
and vice-versa, it is necessary to generate a good
understanding and a sense of trust between the user and the
converter. Since much of the information is very
confidential, trust and collaboration are key issues in the

converter and user relationship.

The meetings between user and converter should be held in a
structured way. For these meetings to be efficient,
information should be obtained and documents elaborated for
the outline of all relevant and significant facts prior to
each meeting. The Q.F.D. provides the tools for the
processing of information such as the Affinity Diagram or
the Tree Diagram method. The Q.F.D. matrix to be used will
provide the means for considering all possible and important

outcomes, and will define the dynamics of the projects.

39
Several meetings will take place throughoht the development
of the Q.F.D. projects. The meetings should have a maximum
of 6 to 8 persons attending. The persons that will comprise
the different working groups at the various stages of the
project will be from both the converter and the user
companies. The constitution of the working group will depend
on which type of information is needed to accomplish the
specific Q.F.D. task. The persons that usually will be
involved in any committee, will be personnel from among the
following departments depending on specific committee and
task:
1) Converter: Production

Research and Development

Engineering

Purchasing

Quality Control

2) User: Marketing

Production

Quality Control

Research and Development

Engineering
Also a person from the converter will monitor and coordinate
all the meetings and guide the discussions. This person
must have an extensive knowledge about the Q.F.D. dynamics

and must be familiar with all the Q.F.D. tools.

40
The converter finance department should advise the project
committee about cost considerations whenever needed, but

regular membership in the working group is not necessary

W

The supplier of raw material, also plays a key role in the
quality design of packaging material. The supplier possesses
information about raw material, such as resins, film

adhesives, inks, etc., which will be very important for the

 

generation of the quality design. The supplier’s knowledge I
of the chemical composition, characteristics, and physical/

properties of the different components of the packaging 4

material will be very valuable information which the

converter needs to be aware of and process during the

product development.

The information should be gathered and processed by the
supplier and the converter together. The converter should
let the supplier know the requirements and together they
develop the quality for each raw material. Since the
converter requirements will be a function of the user needs,

this procedure must be coordinated by the converter.

Referring specifically to the relation between the converter
and the supplier, the information should be gathered through

several meetings where individuals from the converter and

41
supplier companies are present. The following persons must

participate in order to gather the information:

1) from the converter:

* Research and development department will let the
supplier know about the convertor’s technical
needs.

* Production department

* Engineering department, will give to the supplier
the information concerning convertor’s facilities

* Quality Control department will design a proper
system of quality control in consultation with all

affected departments

2) from the supplier:
* Research and Development department
* Production department

* Quality Control department

The convertor’s Purchasing department should receive and
acknowledge all the information processed. Also the Finance
department from both companies should advise on the cost

aspect.

42
D. SPECIFIC APPLICATION OF Q.F.D. TO A FLEXIBLE PACKAGING

MATERIAL

Even though Q.F.D. should be developed by the converter
together with both the user and the supplier, only the
converter and the user analysis will be considered in this

study.

In this application of the Q.F.D., a procedure will be
designed as follows:
i) identification of user’s requirements
ii) several documents will be produced where all relevant
data will be considered.
iii) the documents will be used to outline the

implementation of the Q.F.D. method.

The elaboration of each document will serve as a guide for
the application of Q.F.D. to the package material. The
objective will be to translate the voice of the user into
specific quality characteristics that the finished product

must meet, and eventually to reduce costs.

To illustrate the Q.F.D. approach, a package material for a
chocolate candy bar will be used. The package material will
be a laminated structure of two layers, a printed aluminum

foil and a polymer plastic, which will be produced in rolls

43
by the converter and which the user will operate in F.F.S.

machines.

To develop the Q.F.D. model for application in the
production of flexible packaging material, the "seven new
tools" (Literature Review page 9) and the concepts used in
the "House of Quality" (Literature Review p. 21) and the
concepts developed in the work of "Quality Function

Deployment" (Sullivan, June 1986), will be applied.

11W

The design of the package will cover three main aspects:
* Product and package interaction
* Package appearance

* Package material performance at user’s facilities

A list of questions is developed for each point which will
help in the analysis of the demands and further in the
discussion of relevant information ( Barrash 1987, Anthony

1988).

For product and package interaction, the questions suggested
for studying this area are:

* What kind of product is going to be packed?

* What are the main product components which will be

critical in the product composition?

44
* What is the expected distribution time until the product
arrives at the consumer?
* What are the environmental conditions, such as relative
humidity and temperature,to which the product will be
exposed during distribution? 1

* What type of distribution system is going to be used?

For the appearance of the package, the following questions
will help in the definition of the user requirements:
* What type of design or graphics and how many colors will
the printed package have?
* How elaborate is the design, and what degree of print

definition is required in order to display the message ?

For good performance of the package material in the user’s
packaging process, it is important to understand the user’s
machinery. The following questions propose an approach for
considering this aspect:
* What type of F.F.S. machine is going to be used to
package the product?
* What type of sealing method will the F.F.S. employ?
* What type of storage conditions does the user have for
storing the package material before it is used?
* How long approximately is the packaging.materia1 stored

at the user facilities before being used?

45

These sets of questions will help to provide a means to
understand and define the user’s needs. This information is
one of the most critical parts of the analysis because this
will be the basis for developing the Q.F.D. This information
will be analyzed by using the Affinity Diagram and the Tree
Diagram method (Literature Review p.10-12) . The questions
suggested are exemplary. A full application of Q.F.D. would

generate many more questions in each category.

A set of eight documents will be described. The first
document will serve to identify the user’s requirements for
the candy bar package material. These requirements will be
deployed and correlated to quality characteristics and
component properties through the following six documents.
The eighth document will identify a quality control plan for

critical material component properties.

Document 1, User Requirements, will be generated in a table
form (shown in figure 6, page 46). The first column will
contain the primary level of requirements which are very
general. The second will be filled with the secondary level
of requirements which will be more specific. Finally the
last column will be filled with the tertiary level of
requirements, which is an even more specific list of demands

on which all the study will be based.

116

 

EN!!!

level:

 

GDflIIIIintlIood

nolnsolsnwnsorneuw

 

nocnemnnnuewwcrsnxne

 

leepllllpflltuiiish

nooshhflon

 

nonwhitetnsorgdn

 

neck-upiiheuunuasacoutnsuen

 

F.F.S. machine

material does not tear or F.F.S.
machine

material does not deform at

good sealing

 

mnumehunullsnounlstFJLSJnlnlur

 

”mm.

 

flDdbflflMhlIOfl

 

 

 

colore.den’t feds

 

goodnnchbn

 

 

 

gununr

 

Figure 6: Document 1, User Requirements

47
Once the list of requirements is obtained, the next step is
to evaluate each of them. The evaluation must be done by the
participation of the user together with the converter. This
evaluation will generate Document 2, Rating of User
Requirements, (shown in figure 7, page 49). This document

will process the following information:

* How important is each requirement for the user, or how
critical is each requirement in terms of the finished
product?

* How is each user’s requirement fulfilled by at least two
packaging materials produced by the convertor’s
competitors?

* What is the user expectation for each requirement?

By answering these questions, the requirements will not only
be identified but also they will be weighted in terms of
their significance with respect to the product, user and

eventually consumer expectation.

To complete Document 2 the following information needs to be
gathered:
Step l:The Level 3 requirements from Document 1 are

entered in column 1 of Document 2.

Step 2:A numerical scale is chosen, for example 1 to 5.

48

The user will evaluate each requirement from
Document 1 using such a scale, and in this way a
rating of importance for each requirement will be
established. The requirement that is very
significant for the user will be rated with a 5,
and the least important will be rated with 1. The
rating is entered in column 2, as "requirement

importance" for each requirement.

Step 3:In this Step, the converter must evaluate it’s own
packaging product and the competitors material. The
convertor’s technical and marketing people will be
involved in this work. Specific tests will be run
on the convertor’s own and competitors’ packaging
material under the same conditions. Then a final
evaluation will result which will determine how
each package material from each source performs. A
scale of 1 to 5 will be used. A material with a
very good performance for a specific requirement
will rank 5 and those with poor performance will
rank 1. These entries will be made in columns 3
"converter today", 4 "competitor 1" and 5

"competitor 2" respectively.

Step 4:After step 2 and 3 are completed, the user and the

converter need to determine which requirements need

49

 

u
N
0)
.
u:
0
V
O
O

10

listofuser'srequirenmnts
fromDounnsntl

competitor 2
objectives
sales
importance
degree of
change
degree of
priority
relative
priority

requirement
competitor l

importance

converter
today

 

nolosaofaromaaaavor

 

nochangeolarolnaor
flavor

 

no oxidation

 

nomeistursloesorgain

 

nochangelnioodproduct

 

material does not tear at
F.F.S. machine

 

material does not deform
at F.F.S. machine

 

goodsealing

 

material run fast and well
at F.F.S. machine

 

nosolven: smell

 

nedeianunation

 

abrsdon'ttade

 

podprecision

 

goodmlor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 7: Document 2, Rating of User’s Requirements

50
to be improved. This improvement will be a function
of the requirement importance and how well the
company is fulfilling the requirement. A scale of 1
to 5 will be used. These requirements for which
performance needs to be improved will be assigned a
5: those requirements that do not need change will
be rated as 1. The entries will be placed in column

6, headed "objectives".

Step 5:The converter and the user will consider which
requirements are critical in defining saleability.
For example, the package appearance will make the
package very attractive and will make the finished
product more saleable. This time a scale of 1 to 3
will be used which will describe the following
situation:

3 high contributor to saleability

2 moderate contributor to saleability

1 does not contribute to saleability
These values will be entered in column 7, headed

"sales importance".

Step 6:The"degree of change" column 8 is completed. This
value will result by dividing the value of
"objective" (column 6) by "converter today"

(column 3). This will establish a ratio for

51
change. This ratio will be used for calculation in

step 7.

Step 7:The "degree of priority" column 9. This value will
be obtained by the multiplication of "requirement
importance" (column 2) by the "degree of change"
(column 8) by the "sales importance" (column 7). In
this way the degree of priority for each requirement

will be determined.

Step 8:In column 10 ”relative priority" is considered.
This value will represent how much each
requirement is weighted with respect to the
others. The value will result from adding all
numbers in column 9 and then calculating the
percentage for each requirement, with respect to

the sum of priority values in column 9.

Lmnmmmsrmalimmgristissmnmssrfla
W

Quality characteristics are measurable items that the

converter will control in order to meet user’s demands. The

quality characteristics need to be identified and further

need to be correlated to a specific user’s demands. It is

important not only to determine the possibility of

correlation but also the degree of correlation between a

52

specific quality characteristic and the user requirement.

Document 3, Correlation of User Requirements with Material
Quality Characteristic, will show these correlation. The
example of the candy bar packaging material would generate a
document like the one shown in figure 8, page 53. This
document will be a matrix where the quality characteristics
will be established along the top horizontal axis and the
user requirements from Document 1 and 2 will be set along
the vertical axis. The matrix is a series of cells which
will be filled with symbols which define the degree of

correlation.

For the elaboration of Document 3 there are 6 steps

Step l:All the quality characteristics that the converter
must evaluate will be listed. These quality
characteristics must be able to be measured. For
the candy bar packaging material, the following
quality characteristics can be listed:

* packaging material permeability to
moisture

* packaging material permeability to oxygen

* percentage crystalinity

* polymer molecular weight distribution

* polymer molecular weight

53

   
 

     

     

     

almost-
rell etae

    

II. dryness

”Ir-er a. m.

enetel Hm": I

   
  

fluofmuranfinmunb
tnnnthunmntl

  
 

”Metamucil"

Indungeofmaor
vor

   
 
 

noonddadon

 
 
 

no moisnrre loss or gain

no change in food product
moosin’on

    
  

material does not hear at
F.F.S. madame

 
    
 

material does no: deform
a: F.Fs. machine

 
   
 

goedsealing

 
  

marialmfastandwall
«F.FSIIadI'ne

 
    
 

madman]!

 
 
 

new

    

gaudy-Ida.

 
 
 

pooh

  
 

“mm-1C
“I" mmc

  

 
 

mrrvr mm W
“I" MIST":

 
 

Figure 8: Document 3, Correlation of User Requirement with
Material Quality Characteristics

54
* solvent retention
* tensile strength
* elongation
* tear strength
* lamination strength
* corona treatment
* roll size

* ink dryness

 

Step 2: A matrix will be established where on the top
horizontal axis the quality characteristics will be
written. At the left of the matrix, the first
column will contain the list of requirements from
Document 1. Column 2 will contain the value
of "relative priority" obtained from column 10 of

Document 2.

Step 3: Once the matrix is outlined and Step 2 is completed,
the matrix must be completed. To do this it is
necessary to determine how each quality
characteristic influences the requirement. Each
user’s requirement will be considered and the
degree of correlation with respect to each quality
characteristic will be established. A scale will be
used which includes the following symbols and

values:

55
I little correlation with a value of 1
II moderate correlation with a value of 2

III strong correlation with a value of 3

Step 4: The procedure to fill out the matrix is as follow:

* each cell will be divided in two by a
diagonal line,

* in the bottom half of the cell the symbol
which identifies the degree of correlation,
as described in step 3, will be written,

* in the top half of each cell a value will be
obtained by multiplying the "relative
priority" of each requirement from document 2
by the correlation value. (This relative
priority has been transferred from document 2

to the second column of this document.

Step 5:The values of every cell in each quality
characteristic column will be added. This sum
will be placed at the bottom of every column, in
the row label "absolute weight". In figure 8, it is

the next to the last row.

Step 6:In the last row, below the "absolute weight" row,
the "relative weight" for each quality

characteristic will be determined. First, all the

56
"absolute weights" will be added and "total
absolute value" will be obtained. Then the
percentage for each "absolute weight" will be
obtained by dividing each "absolute value" by the
"total absolute value" and finally multiplying by
100. This value will be entered for each quality
characteristic in the last row labeled "relative

weight of quality characteristic".

This document will give information about the correlation
between each quality characteristics and each requirement
and also will give an evaluation the importance of each

quality characteristic in meeting the user’s requirements.

‘1‘ .., -. ., . ;'fl, ‘3‘;, ._. g,. .q -

Document 4, Selection of Critical Quality Characteristics
Significant to User’s Requirements will allow recognition
of these quality characteristics that need to be focused
upon in order to fulfill the user’s demands. To understand
this document, figure 9 page 58 will help to visualize its

format as applied to the candy bar packaging material.
The steps to elaborate this document are as follow:

Step 1: a matrix pattern will be used.

57

Step 2: each row will be filled with different information

-as follows:

IO?! 1:

row 2:

row 3:

row 4:

row 5:

all the quality characteristics from
Document 3 will be written as column
headings,

the value of the test result for each
quality characteristic from converter,
the "relative weight" from the last row of
Document 3 will be entered,

will identify with a check mark these
quality characteristics for which we need
to change. The higher the relative weight
the more there is need for change .
Intermediate values of "relative weight"
need a careful consideration but possibly
no change is needed.The decision will be
based upon the values of the "relative
weight" and a strategy determined by the
committee. The strategy includes the cost
impact, the nature of the project and
available facilities. It is not based

upon the value of relative weight alone.

the value of test result for each quality
characteristic from competitor 1, obtained

through the testing of the competitor l

58

 

Qualirychancteristics

° 3" e' 83 3 i
P":' S S i :5 £3: 6 :5
53:.3"§§§::§§::
E E :5 " “"3 3 _, : 5., z - 3
_ : : :tt: i -

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

present convertor's [
2 values

 

relative weight of

3 each quality

characteristc
(Document 3)

 

identification of

significant quality
characteristic by a

check mark

 

competitor 1 values
a for each quality
characteristic

 

. competitor 2 values

for each uality
character stic

 

7 target value for each
quality characteristic

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

' ' ' lity
re 9: Document 4 Selection of Critical Qua .
Figu Characteristics Significant to User’s Requirements

59

packaging material.

row 6:the value of test result for each quality

characteristic from competitor 2.

row 7:by processing the information from row 1
and 2, on these quality characteristics
that need to be changed, as identified in row
4, a target value will be estimated
considering mainly the "relative weight"
of the quality characteristic and also
considering the test result values of the

competitors’ material.

In the preparation of this document, persons from the
convertor’s quality control, research and development,

marketing and engineering departments should participate.

Document 5, Selection of Package Components and Assignment
of Component Characteristics to Critical Quality
Characteristics, will establish the relationship between the
quality characteristics and the components of the packaging
material. First, the components and component

characteristics of the packaging material will be developed.

60

Then the critical quality characteristics obtained in

Document 4 will be considered and their influence on the

different packaging components will be established.

An illustration of Document 5 is shown in figure 10 on page

61. Using the candy bar packaging material example will help

to understand the purpose and the dynamic of this document.

To generate this document, five steps must be followed:

Step 1: First, the components of the packaging material

need to be defined. In the case of the candy bar

packaging material the components identified are:

*

*

film layer

total package material
adhesive

print

roll

Step 2: The component characteristics will be recognized.

The component characteristics are those which

describe the properties of the component with

respect to the total package material.

61

Critical Quality Characteristics
from Document )

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

0.90.. components
c are characteristics
sealahle
film
coepatihility
barrier
total
package performance in
“t.t1.1 F.F.S. mm.
lamination
adhesive
on sol ent
recent on
P v s
print precision
good fit in
roll .
F.F.S. machine

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 10: Document 5, Selection of Package Components and
Assignment of Component Characteristics to
Critical Quality Characteristics

62

COMPONENTS COMPONENT CHARACTERISTIC
* film layer - sealable (inside layer)

- compatibility with candy bar

* total - barrier properties
package - performance on F.F.S. machine
material

* adhesive - maintain lamination

- doesn’t retain solvent

* roll - fit well in F.F.S. machine

Step 3: Once the components and the component
characteristics are identified, a matrix will be
' prepared as follows:
row 1: in the top row, the critical quality
characteristics obtained in Document 4
will be written as headings.
column 1: the components already described will
be listed.
column 2: the component characteristics will be

listed.

63
Step 4: The matrix will be a series of cells. An evaluation
system will be used to record the degree of
correlation between the component characteristics
and the critical quality characteristics. A set of
symbols will be used in the following manner :
I - little correlation
II 2 some correlation
III 8 strong correlation
This correlation will determine which components
need to be considered and which critical quality
characteristics must be accounted for in order to
fulfill the user’s requirements. This document
should be elaborated by persons from the convertor’s
quality control, research and development and
marketing departments.
This document will be mainly concerned with the degree of
correlation between the quality characteristics and the
component characteristics. It is not necessary to
numerically evaluate such correlation because what is
important is to see how each component characteristic affect
the quality characteristic which in the previous documents

were weighted and numerically evaluated.

W

In the previous document, the components and the component

characteristics were related to the critical quality

64
characteristics. Now it is necessary to identify the
critical components’ properties that will make it possible
to fulfill the requirements established by the user. This
study needs to be done very carefully and a detailed
consideration of the package material will be required.
People from the production, quality control, engineering,
research and development departments should participate in
this work. This is a critical part which necessitates good
group coordination and collaboration from all the areas

involved.

To develop Document 6, Deployment of Components and
Component Characteristics into Critical Component
Properties, (figure 11,page 65) the following steps will

help to guide the procedure:

column 1: includes the list of components described in
Document 5

column 2: consists of the list of component
characteristics also obtained in Document 5

column 3: is a list of certain critical component
properties that will directly affect the
desired target value of the final
product critical quality characteristics, (such
critical quality characteristics were related to

the components characteristics in Document 5).

65

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

omponsnts component ritical component
characteristics properties
melting point
(polymer)
scalable melt . flow index
crystallinity 2
film
polymer chemical
constitution
compatibility
glass transition
temperature
crystallinity Z
barrier thickness
polymer chemical
constitution
package
tensile strength
performance elongation
in F.F.S.
machine puncture resistance
delamination
lamination amount of adhesive
adhesive
no solvent adhesive viscosity
retention
‘ boiling point
(solvent)
ink viscosity
print precision ink deposition
solvent proportion
Roll sire
good fit in
roll F.F.S. machine tension at rolling

 

 

 

 

Figure 11: Document 6, Deployment of Components and
Component Characteristics into Critical
Component Properties

66
Then these critical component properties
will be further deployed to determine the
production planning and control process.
To process the information in Document 6 on the
relationship among components, component
characteristics and critical component
properties, the Tree Diagram and the Process
Decision Program Chart (P.D.P.C.) tools
(Literature Review p. 12 and 15) could be

used.

 

Once the component characteristics are related to the

critical component properties, it is necessary to relate
these to the production process and determine the means to
control and evaluate them. In Document 7, Designation of
Process Control Point and Check Site for Critical Component
Properties of Raw Material and Processes, the critical
component properties will be considered and related to the

raw material and processes that need to be controlled.

The illustration for this document is shown in figure 12
page 68. For this document to be elaborated requires a deep
knowledge of the convertor process and facilities. In the

construction of this document, personnel from the

67
convertor’s engineering, quality control, production and

research and development departments should participate.

To complete this document requires one step as follows:

row 1: All the critical component properties (from

Document 6) will be listed as column headings.

left columns:In the first two columns at the extreme left of
the matrix, "raw material" and "process" will

be listed.

right columns:At the extreme right side of the matrix, two
columns will be distinguished:
"control point": this column will establish which part
of the process or raw material
needs to be controlled
"check site": identifies where measurements for the

control points will take place

central matrix grid: a number of cells will result in
which are identified ,by using a
check mark, the relations between
the critical component properties
and the process or raw material.

Once the central matrix grid is filled, a check mark will

68

ans .qaaqo

singed tonne:

.
O
IN
U
Is
I
a.
O
h
a.
U
B
O
3'
0
.4
Q
9
VII
H
'II
III
0

sseaoxd

meats mu

 

Figure 12: Document 7, Designation of Process Control Points and
Check Sites for Critical Component Properties of Raw
Material and Processes

69
determine how each critical component property affects the
process or the raw material. Then a "control point" will be
identified by recognizing how the part of the process or
item of the raw material will be controlled, and the "check
site" will identified where such control will take place.
The name of this control point or check site is entered in

the appropriate column on the right side of the matrix.

Document 7 will give information by which the critical

component properties will be related through the component
characteristics from document 6 to the process itself, and
subsequently a control system can be developed as the next

document is created.

LWW

After the process has been studied using the seven documents
described, a control system must be developed. From
Document 8, Statistical Process Control Plan for Critical
Component Properties of Raw Material and Processes, the

control system operating instruction can be obtained.

An example of this document as shown in figure 13 page 71
will help to understand the ideas included in this
procedure. This document is the last one and the following

steps will be used:

column

column

column

column

column

70
from Document 7, the "raw material" will be

listed

also from Document 7, the "process" will

listed

the "control points" are also brought from

Document 7

the "check sites" are brought from

Document 7.

the "control method" will be defined for each
control point, such as i or R charts. This
will be determined as a function of the
control point and how significant is the
correlation between component

characteristic and the quality characteristic
(Document 5). It is also a function of the

importance of the quality characteristic

itself as determined in Document 4.

column 6: sample size will be described depending on

the kind of control point and control

method.

71

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1" «nuns dud: °¢“"” Im-ne
nut-1.1 m point sites It"!!! sise ’W
film
sunuruinmwumr—
l-nmnun
mdmuml
«ulna

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 13: Document 8, Statistical Process Control Plan for

Critical Component Properties of Raw
Processes.

Material and

72
column 7: the frequency of the test will be established
for each "control point", depending on the

specific evaluation under consideration

The information contained in this document will be used for
the elaboration of the control system operating

instructions.

It should be noted that the control method, the sample size
and the frequency of test will be influenced by the type of
facilities and machinery in which production is taking
place. The convertor needs to determine the accuracy and
repeatability of his machinery and what type of adjustment
and variation the equipment is able to handle. It is very
important to have all detailed information available and
ready to be used for the elaboration of this document. The
participation of the engineering, production, quality
control and research and development departments is a key
factor in the completion of this final document. To further
elucidate the technique developed here, a hypothetical case
is proposed. This case illustrates with specific numerical
examples how the information flows from document to

document.

73

B. PRACTICAL EXAMPLE OF APPLICATION OF Q.F.D.

The following documents were filled out with hypothetical
data, in order to demonstrate the dynamic of the Q.F.D. The
numbers were arbitrarily chosen, usually at the extreme of
the normal ranges, to illustrate the operation of the model.
To make this example more clear and accessible only one user’s
requirement was considered, and this requirement was

successively deployed until the eight documents were obtained.

The package under consideration is a laminate structure of
aluminum foil and polyethylene. The aluminum foil layer is
going to be printed by flexography, in three colors. The
package material is sold to the user in roll form and is used
in a F.F.S. machine. The product to be packed is a chocolate

candy bar.

The purpose of the study is to improve the quality of the
existing package material, for a longer shelf life. The
project will be undertaken by the convertor’s technical
departments, mainly Research and Development, Quality Control,
Production and.Engineering; and the user’s Marketing, Quality
Control and Research and Development departments. Several
meetings should take place in‘which the convertor and the user

exchange information

'74
It will be necessary to refer to the description of each
document in the body of the thesis . It is suggested to copy
these example documents in order to read them side by side

with the instructions. The documents are as follows:

W1: Compatibility of food with the package as a
general requirement was considered and deployed into three

levels (shown in figure 14, page 75)

W: The evaluation for the requirement importance
(shown in figure 15, page 76) is hypothetical, as are the
numbers in column 3, 4, 5 and 7. These are numbers which
would be assigned by the committee according to the

instructions given for the document.

The values in column 6 "objectives" were estimated based upon
considering the "requirement importance", and how well the

company is meeting the requirement.

The values in column 8, "degree of change" were obtained by
dividing the values of "objective" (column 6) by "convertor

today" (column 3).

The values of column 9 "degree of priority" result from the

multiplication of the following values:

75

 

level 1 level 2 level 3

 

 

r no loss of aroma or
. flavor
maintain flavor 4ru_

 

no change of aroma or

compatibility of flavor

 

food product

with package no oxidation

 

material keep food product f'

fresh no moisture loss or gain

 

no change in food product
composition

 

 

 

Figure 14: Document 1, Numerical Example

 

T76

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
list of user’s
requirements
from Document 1 ,. ,.
(1avel3) go a u e II
on u o .o o u a: a.
as a a :: a 5 ° °z~ '1:
no u u u u' a me 0-H 31w
will ON 0 C U H 0” Uh Uh
gs .zg'g g a 3.2. a: :32. :3
' to: 3a 0 u '8 :5 3‘5 3'23:
w
no loss of 4 g .
aromaor 3 lo 4 3 l 12
flavor
no change of - T“
aroma or 5
flavor 3 5 6 5 2 1.63 16.3
J
no oxidati°n 3 b s 4 b 2 1 6
no moisture
loss or sain 3 2 4 3 3 1 1.5 4.5
no change in
food product '
composition 5 6 S 4 5 3 1.2 18

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 15: Document 2 , Numerical Eexample

 

77
requirement importance x degree of change X sales importance

(column 2) (column 8) (column 7)

The values of "relative priority" for column 10 are obtained
by dividing the degree of priority for each requirement
(column 9) by the sum of priorities in column 9 and

multiplying by 100 %.

nggnmgn1_1: The correlation of user's requirement with the
quality characteristics was determined, and each quality
characteristic was evaluated as a function of the "relative

priority" of the requirementa (shown in figure 16, page 78):

The list of requirements and the "relative priority" of each
requirement from Document 2 was carried to the first two

columns of the matrix.

The set of quality characteristics were related to the user

requirements chosen and.were set in the top row of the matrix.

In the lower portion of each cell a symbol such as I or II
or III was chosen according to the degree of correlation
between each user’s requirement and each quality
characteristic.

Each symbol placed at the bottom of the cell has a value of

1, 2, or 3. These values were multiplied by the "relative

78

 

QUALITY’CIAIACTIIISTICS

---..J

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

b

3a a o m

In a u o I
list of user's 3 ‘5' a e. 3‘ o. . ‘s‘
mar-cm . age .1 :: 3 s =-. '3
(level 3) «z 5 m '3 3 I. i. g g ";2

:3": E931... g. .. .. 2.: a:

3 .3 in“ 3° 0 8. 2. 8 f. 3 3
'° 1°" °‘ 62 63 63 21 21
aroma or 21
(1.”: II II II I I
midwneof 67
name:
flavor 29 III -

ll 33
nomdamun “
1 1n:
4)

Insmuuwa 2‘ l6 6 6
husormnn
. I 111 II I I
nsdnqpin 96 96 96 ’
{anpmwut 32 :-
‘g..,..1cio. III 11 III
absolute weight of
quality characteristic 173 192 79. 29 29 183 685
relative weight of
quality characteristic 25 29 11 6 6 27 .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 16: Document 3, Numerical Example

79
priority" value at the left of the matrix, and the product

obtained was written in the upper portion of each cell.

For each quality characteristic all the values in the upper
right corner of the cells were added and the sum written in
the row titled "absolute 'weight of quality characteristic".
All the values of the "absolute weight of quality
characteristic" were added and this sum written at the far
right end of the "absolute weight of quality characteristic"

under the column heading "total absolute weight".

Finally the "relative weight of quality characteristic" was
obtained by finding the percentage of each "absolute weight
of quality'characteristic" with respect to the "total absolute
weight"

nggnm§n§__5: A target value for each critical quality
characteristic was estimated (shown in figure 17, page 80).
The "polymer M.W." and the "polymer M.W.D." quality
characteristic were not considered because they have a very
low "relative weight of quality characteristic". The target
values chosen reflect, strategy, technical judgement, cost,
and technical feasibility. Note that the committee determined
that solvent retention needed to be reduced below that of any

of the three convertors.

8C)

 

QUALITY CHARACTERISTICS

 

permeability
2 day At)

:0 “20
(grs.{ a

day At.)

permeability
to O
(cc./m§

crystallinity‘z

polymer.H.H.D.

polymer n.v.

, solvent
retention

 

present convertor's
values for each quality
characteristic

25

p—
_ O

40

131.900

30

 

relative weight of each
quality characteristic
from Document 3

25

29

11

27

 

identification by check
mark, the significant
quality characteristic

 

competitor 1 values
for each quality
characteristic

21

60

10.7

131.000

20

 

competitor 2 values
for each quality
characteristic

15

12

55

10.5

129,900

25

 

 

 

target values for
each quality
- characteristic

L

 

15

 

 

SS

 

 

 

10

 

Figure 17: Document

4, Numerical Example

 

81

nggnmgn1__§: The correlation between critical quality
characteristics and component characteristics was recorded
using the set of symbols:

I a little correlation

II - some correlation

III - strong correlation

The numerical values for these symbols is not needed and none

is assigned. This document is shown in figure 18, page 82.

Note that the polymer M.W. and polymer M.W.D. quality
characteristics are not carried from Document 4 into Document

5, because they were not considered critical in Document 4.

All three components (film, total package 'material, and
adhesive) influence compatibility, so they and their component

characteristics must be listed in this Document 5.

Once this correlation is defined those components and
component characteristics which have "some" or "strong"
correlation with quality characteristics will be further
deployed into critical component properties in Document 6.
Every component characteristic showed correlation with at
least one critical quality characteristic and so all five
component.characteristiCS‘were carried forward to Document 6.
Dggnmgn;_§: The component and component characteristics were

deployed. further' into <critical component. properties. The

82

 

-----J

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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N
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3 a g
.. .. a :
U u vi a
v6 vi 6 I
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capo
components characteristics
1 I It:
sealable I
run
co-pnttbtltt! 11 II 111 1:1
tots
a barrier
::::::.1 III 111 111 I
1"*"‘*°' 11 11 1 III
adhesive
no solvent
retention
1 I I It!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 18: Document 5, Numerical Example

83
control of these critical component properties will make it
possible to satisfy the critical quality characteristics which
are essential for meeting the user’s requirement. Document 6

is shown in figure 19 page 84.

pggnmgn§_1: The critical components properties were related
to processes and raw material and further to part of the
control system (shown in figure 20, page 85). The check_marks
show the type of control test to be used for each of the

critical component properties.

nggnmgn;_§: This document (shown in figure 21, page 86) will
complete the control system. and from this document the
operational instruction for the control system will be

obtained.

84.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

component critical component properties
characteristics
components
melt flow index of the polymer
scalable melting point of the polymer
film crystallinity i
polymer chemical constitution
compatibility glass transition temperature
at)
total
package crystalinity of polyg§5_§_____ .
material barrier thickness
polymer chemical constitution
delamination
lamination
amount of adhesive
adhesive
no solvent ‘ aghesive viscosity
retention

 

 

 

 

solvent boiling point

 

 

 

Figure 19: Document 6, Numerical Example

85

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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aluminum ./ physical micrometer

l/ adhesive machine
viscosity viscosimet.

l/ . } $33319" Instron

lamination

V tempera-e solvent
ture extration

l/ adhesive :machine

amount dosis

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 20: Document 7, Numerical Example

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Figure 21: Document 8, Numerical Example

87

F. PRACTICAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL CONSIDERATION FOR Q.F.D.

APPLICATION

All the documents described could be contemplated as one big
chart, which was broken into eight different documents to be
able to deal with this project of quality design more
easily. The project has only one objective; to design
quality into the product. Also the project maintains a
constant unity of structure since each document depends upon
the previous one in order to be completed. At the end of
Document 8, it is important to realize that the user demands
will be reflected in the control of the production process
through the quality control system, which was the main

objective of the project.

There are some recommendations for the application of the

Q.F.D.:

* The time invested in developing this method could be
considered too extensive. To avoid this, or to speed up the
application of the Q.F.D., it could be useful to have all
persons involved in the project trained in the method. All
the persons should be aware of the mechanisms and tools to

be implemented. A plan of action should be outlined.

* It will be helpful in the development of each document to

88
assign groups of persons with specific tasks and then
process all information from the different subgroups for the
creation of that document. The subgroups could be all
working at the same time and a coordinator for each document
will be organizing and supervising all information, as well

as feeding data to each subgroup for further work.

* A Document Coordinator for each document, will be chosen
and, depending on the nature of the document, this person
will have either a technical or a marketing background.

Also a General Coordinator will be chosen,who must have a
deep understanding and knowledge of the dynamics of the
Q.F.D. method. The General Coordinator will be the link
between the different groups and will organize the final
information from document to document. The General
Coordinator will be the connection between technical,
marketing and financial departments and also with the user’s
company. The General Coordinator will provide and select
relevant information to be processed. This person needs to
have both technical and management background. The firm must
officially recognize this role and give it a specific place

in the organization structure.

* User’s requirements must be carefully selected. A very
large list of user’s demands could enlarge the project to

such a degree that it will consume too much time and be very

89
ineffective; on the other hand, if the user's requirements
are not totally considered, some overlooked requirements

could be missed which were relevant to the quality design

(Cohen, 1988).

IV. CONCLUSION

Because packaging is in constant change, it is continually
adapting to new technology. Customer demands and
expectations are critical. The Q.F.D. model provides a
procedure to analyze information and incorporate it in an
effective way into the product. Q.F.D. takes into account
the user and the consumer views and also provides a design
mechanism for making full use of all available technical,
marketing and financial expertise to obtain controlled,

innovative solutions to complex production problems.

The implementation and understanding of the model requires
time and some investment in terms of training of the persons
who are going to participate in the project, but eventually
this will pay off once the model is properly applied. It is
important to carefully study each step of the model, so a
high level of commitment is required from all participants.
A good analysis of the customer needs as well as the user
company facilities and machinery is required in order to

make possible the development of the Q.F.D.

The main advantage of the model is that a product will be
obtained with a quality adapted to the specific needs or

demands of the customer. The product will have the quality

90

91
that is expected, not below or above that which is required,
by identifying only those significant parts or features
that are fundamental for product performance at all levels.
As a consequence, the product obtained will be of good

quality and produced at optimum cost.

Although Q.F.D.is a very new method for developing quality,
it has been very successful in all those industries which
have adopted it. The virtue of the model is its originality
and the simplicity of the procedure. Further study and
development of the model will make Q.F.D. a powerful tool in

quality control for packaging.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BIBLIQGBAEEX

Anthony S. "Packaging Quality - Product Quality"_£;gpa;§g_£ggg§

March 1988 vol. 157 p. 97-98 .

Barrash M.J."The Process of Development a New Package" Brewers

-Dig§§; July 1987 vol:62 p. 16-17

Barker B.T."Quality Engineering By Design: Taguchi’s Philosophy"
ng11§y_2rgg;§§§ December 1986 vol: 19 p.32-42

Birne D. M., Taguchi S."The Taguchi Approach to Parameter

Design" Quality_£;gg:g§§ December 1987 vol:19
p.19-26

Box E.P.G., Bisgaard S. "The Scientific Context of Quality

Improvement" Quali§y_£rgg;g§§ June 1987 vol:20

Cohen L. "Quality Function Deployment An Application Perspective

from Digital Equipment Corporation" N 'o a
£29§gg§1yi§y_ggyigw_ summer 1988 vol:7 p.197-208

93

94

De Vera D., Kenny A., Glennon T., KaHn M.A.H., Mayer M. "An
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October 1985 vol:18 p. 176-187

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King B. "Implementing Quality Function Deployment" Growth
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Kukla B. "Meeting Customer Needs" nglity Progress June 1986

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Bsyisy, May-June 1988 vol:66 p.63-73

Ishikawa K., Lu D. J. "Total Quality Control" Chapter 5 p.89-
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Englewood Cliffs, NJ, U.S.A., 1985

Sullivan, P.L. "Quality Function Deployment" ' ess

June 1986 vol:19 p.39-50

Sullivan P.L. "The Seven Stages in Company Wide Quality Control"
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