Quality Function Deployment for Environment

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In this paper, a methodologyof QFD applied to environmentallyconscious design is introduced. Asoutlined Figure 1, conceptual design,qualitative design review, detaildesign, and quantitative designreview are following to productconcept making using QFD as awhole "Design for Environment(DfE)" flow. "QFD for Environment(QFDE)" the authors proposeconsists of four phases. The outcomeof QFDE phase I and II isidentification the components thatshould be focused in product designwhen environmental as well astraditional items are considered.After identifying the importantparts and components, designengineers will try to improve thedesign of their products at theDfE project organizedProduct concept making(Utilization of QFDE)Conceptual designQualitative design review on environmental aspect(Utilization of DfE checklist)Detail designQuantitative design review on environmental aspect(Utilization of LCA)ProductionFigure 1 DfE flow and design support toolsviewpoints of environment. It is helpful for design engineers to evaluate the effect oftheir design changes on environmental aspects of the product beforehand. The authorsalso developed QFDE phase III and IV further so that design engineers would examinethe possibility of design improvements for each component and find out theimprovement effects of their design changes. Six case studies were conducted to verifythe applicability of QFDE to DfE in this research. In the final chapter of this paper,the results of verification through the case studies are discussed.2. Applying QFD to DfE2.1. Quality Function Deployment (QFD)It is important to listen to customer requirements to obtain market needs andmake them reflected on the product design. QFD is a method to collect vaguelyexpressed quality requirements (Voice of Customer: VOC) from the market and deploythem to actual design work. While QFD needs many phases for deeper hierarchicaldeployment, the authors use two phases to translate VOC up to parts characteristics.In phase I, VOC for a product are deployed to more detailed Engineering Metrics (EM)to clarify their positions. In phase II, the relationship between the above EM items andcomponents of the product are clarified. Through these steps, the designer can identifywhich functions and components should be focused in order to satisfy customerrequirements. The roles of QFD include the analysis between trade-offs items fordesign and identification of their product’s market competence through benchmarkingprocesses. However, to make it simple, the authors decided to focus on creation ofquality tables as they are the basic elements of this tool.2.2. Voice of customer (VOC) and engineering metrics (EM) on environmental aspectsWhen designers improve their products environmentally, they will listen to thevoice of green consumers. There are some researches on green marketing (Stevels,2000), however, the requirements for the environment from the consumers are notstrong so far. On the other hand, in recent years, many companies are extending theirresponsibility to consider the upstream environmental impacts of manufacturing andthe downstream impacts of consumer use and disposal of products. OECD work onExtended Producer Responsibility (EPR) began in 1994, and the trend is towards the
extension of EPR to new product groups (OECD, 2001). Here, EPR is a policy approachunder which producers accept significant responsibility - financial and/or physical - forthe treatment or disposal of post-consumer products. Assigning such responsibility tomanufacturers could provide incentives to form partnerships with customers andrecyclers to work on making changes that reduce the environmental impact. Eagan etal. (2001) identified two categories of customers who might represent the environment.The first category includes the customers who speak directly for the environment likeenvironmental regulators and green consumers. The second category includes thecustomers whose behavior and actions support the environment such as recyclers andend-of-life disposal plants.Based on the EPR policy approach as mentioned above, not only consumers(users) but also recyclers, the government, the environment are considered to becustomers in this study. The authors investigated what kind of requirements andattributes should be considered from the environmental point of view through a wholeproduct life cycle, and then integrated those environmental items into a set of feasibleenvironmental VOC and EM, and their correlation factors. The environmental VOCand EM are explained below.Environmental VOCless material usage: using smaller amount of materials for the product.easy to transport and retain: easy to transport and retain during the logistics toretailers and reverse logistics from users.easy to process and assemble: easy to process and assemble during manufacturing.less energy consumption: consuming less energy and electricity during all the lifecyclestages.high durability: slow to deteriorate and highly reliable during usage.easy to reuse: easy to reuse as a product or as a part.easy to disassemble: easy to disassemble in the maintenance stage during usageand in the end-of-life stage.easy to clean: easy to clean the exterior.easy to smash: easy to smash in the end-of-life stageeasy to sort: sorting products or parts easily from the viewpoint of material.safe to incinerate: releasing no toxicities during incineration in the end-of-lifestage.safe to landfill: releasing no toxicities out of the sites after landfilling the parts orthe remainings of incineration.harmless to living environment: harmless to the living environment of the usersand the inhabitants of their neighborhood during the manufacturing and usage.For example, toxic substances, noises, vibrations, electromagnetic waves, or smellsare not released.safe emission: safe emission from the manufacturing plants.possible to dispose at ease: requesting no consideration of resource depletion ortoxicity when users throw away.Environmental EMweight: the weight of the product. volume: the volume of the product.number of parts: the number of parts in the product.number of types of materials: the number of types of materials in the product. likelihood to get dirt: the speed of change of the exterior color by the effect of dirt.hardness: the hardness of the parts in the product.physical lifetime: the physical lifetime of the product.
Page 4 and 5: amount of energy consumption: the a
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