A spreadsheet implementation of QFD and systems engineering approaches to support concurrent engineering

For an organisation to sustain its competitive advantage, there is a strong need for timely adjustment to ever rapidly changing customer demands. To achieve this goal, known customer needs must be prioritised and transformed into organised downstream design requirements. This paper describes how a spreadsheet framework has been developed which incorporates a modified quality function deployment (QFD) and systems engineering process (SEP) for product development and planning. The application of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is used as a means of ranking top level user requirements. The methodology provides a pro-active means and a strong link between quantified user requirements that are prioritised and product design/performance by assuring that down-stream design incorporated into trade-off decisions. An example is also presented to test and evaluate the spreadsheet approach in heavy engineering projects.