15.4 Approaches to Improving Product and Service Designs
1) The DMADV process for improving product and service designs is rooted in what methodology?
A) Project management
B) Optimization
C) Lean
D) Six Sigma
2) What does the A represent in the acronym DMADV?
A) Analyze
B) Assign
C) Advise
D) Agenda
3) What does the M represent in the acronym DMADV?
A) Metrics
B) Measure
C) Monitor
D) Market
4) The DMADV process relies on:
A) benchmarking competitors’ products.
B) intuitive design championed by contractors external to the company.
C) rigorous data analysis by teams of black belts, green belts and champions.
D) black box design or gray box design.
5) What are the implications of an empty row (i.e., one with no check marks or x’s) in the main body of
the matrix of the house of quality?
A) Nothing, it’s just a sparse row.
B) There is no synergy among the product characteristics.
C) Product characteristics are potentially superfluous.
D) Customer requirements are potentially not being met by the product.
6) What are the implications of an empty column (i.e., one with no check marks or x’s) in the main body
of the matrix of the house of quality?
A) Nothing, it’s just a sparse row.
B) There is no synergy among the product characteristics.
C) Product characteristics are potentially unnecessary.
D) Customer requirements are potentially not being met by the product.
7) What are the implications of an empty row (i.e., one with no check marks or x’s) in the roof portion of
the house of quality?
A) Nothing, it’s just a sparse row.
B) There is no synergy for that product characteristic with other product characteristics.
C) Product characteristics are potentially superfluous.
D) Customer requirements are potentially not being met by the product.
8) The left side of the quality function deployment house of quality contains:
A) product characteristics.
B) relationships between product characteristics.
C) customer requirements.
D) product specifications.
9) Which of these matrix combinations is a correct pairing for quality function deployment?
A) customer requirements and process specifications
B) product characteristics and process characteristics
C) product specifications and process characteristics
D) process specifications and product specifications
10) Which of the following acronyms is a process that involves the systematic consideration of
manufacturing issues in the design and development process?
A) DFE.
B) CAM.
C) QFD.
D) DFM.
11) Parts standardization typically does NOT:
A) reduce the time to develop a new product.
B) reduce the cost of final products.
C) reduce the profit of a new product.
D) reduce the cost of developing new products.
12) A modular architecture improves:
A) design for Six Sigma and design for the environment.
B) design for manufacturability and design for susceptibility.
C) design for maintainability and design for the environment.
D) design for Six Sigma and design for manufacturability.
13) A process that involves examining all elements of a component, assembly, end product, or service to
make sure it fulfills its intended function at the lowest total cost is:
A) target costing.
B) design to cost.
C) value analysis.
D) examination costing.
14) Which of these features would contribute to a design for the environment (DFE) program?
A) using one model of fan motor across the entire product line that uses fan motors
B) using more reliable parts that are in areas that are difficult to access
C) standardizing on two or three fasteners where there were ten different kinds before
D) using recyclable parts whenever possible
15) Quality function deployment can be used to show linkages between customer requirements and
product characteristics.
16) The roof of the house of quality displays conflicts between the voice of the customer and product
characteristics and permits designers to rapidly identify trade-offs.
17) The output from the first QFD matrix that feeds into the second QFD matrix is the product
characteristics information.
18) CAD systems allow engineers to develop, modify, share, and test designs in a virtual world.
19) Companies can reduce the time and cost of developing new products and reduce the cost of final
products by using parts standardization.
20) The oil could be changed at the push of a button without dirtying your hands or peering underneath
the new Chrysler Crepitus. This is an important achievement in their Design for Six Sigma program.
21) Target costing is the process of designing a process to meet a specific cost objective.
22) Value may be increased by simultaneously increasing cost and decreasing functionality.
23) Using less packaging or biodegradable batteries would be components of a design for
manufacturability initiative.
24) The roof of the quality function deployment house of quality displays synergies among the ________.
25) The initial generation of DeLorean boasted of its stainless steel skin, gull–wing doors, and 273 sizes of
fasteners. The engineers lowered the product‘s overall inventory level and product complexity by settling
on only 12 different sizes of fasteners thanks to their ________ program.
26) ________ is a product design in which each functional element maps into its own physical chunk.
27) Safety and health issues over the product‘s projected life cycle are addressed by the ________
approach.
28) No poultry farmer in his right mind was going to pay more than $1 for a rooster helmet, so the
________ program for Rooster Boosters set that as the goal for their new product.
29) The relationship between product functionality and product cost is quantified as ________.
30) The fast food restaurant switched from wrapping their hamburgers in Styrofoam containers, which
had a half-life of several thousand years, to wrapping them in a thin film of kelp and plankton, which
could be used as a healthy snack for fish. This move was part of a broad approach entitled a design for
________ initiative.
31) What is the Six Sigma approach to new product and process development? What takes place in each
step?
32) How does quality function deployment work and what advantages are accrued when it is used?
33) Develop the first matrix for a house of quality (Customer requirements — Product characteristics) for
an improved pizza box. Your house of quality should feature four rows and four columns and should
identify relationships among the rows and columns. Identify relationships in the roof of your house of
quality also.
34) Develop the product characteristics-product specifications matrix (i.e., the second matrix) for a house
of quality for an improved pizza box. Your house of quality should feature four rows and four columns
and should identify relationships among the rows and columns. Identify relationships in the roof of your
house of quality also.
35) Develop the first matrix (Customer requirements – Product characteristics) for a house of quality for
an improved wallet. Your house of quality should feature four rows and four columns and should
identify relationships among the rows and columns. Identify relationships in the roof of your house of
quality also.
36) What are the advantages for a manufacturer of parts standardization and modular architecture and
how are they related?
37) What is design for the environment (DFE)? Provide examples of products or services that have been
developed with this in mind.
38) What is value analysis and how is it typically conducted?