Seminar on "Quality Function Deployment (QFD)"

A seminar on Quality Function Deployment (QFD) was organized by Hong Kong Society for Quality (HKSQ) and co-organized by Hong Kong Quality Function Deployment Association (HKQFDA) on 26 Aug 2011. QFD is a useful and practical method for product and service development. Moreover, HKQFDA is non-business organization to promote QFD application. All their workshops and trainings are free.

Dr. Catherine Chan (President, Hong Kong QFD Association) was the speaker to introduce QFD to us. QFD is established to Japan since 1960, it have been widely used by many world renowned enterprises, including Toyota, Nissan, GM, Hitachi, IBM, etc., for doing quality planning and product design.

Then Dr. Chan introduced two founders of QFD. They are Prof. Shigeru Mizuno and Prof. Yoji Akao. Both awarded Deming Prices in 1952 and 1978, respectively.

QFD refers:

Q - Quality which is determined by Customer Expectations (CE)

F - Function which is the "HOW" of the product or service for meeting the CE

D - Deployment which is how suppliers manage the flow of the development efforts so as to make certain that CE drive the development of products and services.

Dr. Chan explained that the gramme of Japanese is "Subject", "Object" and "Verb". Therefore, QFD means "Quality Deploy into Function".

QFD adopted the idea of control point. Demanded Qualities were separated into Substitute Characteristic (Control Pt for Design) and Production Parameters (Control Pt for production).

QFD is Quality Deployment (QD) plus Work Function Deployment (WFD). Dr. Chan said many companies only performed QD without WFD.

The most important of QFD is to develop a Quality Table. It is used to convert the needs from "Customers' World" into "Engineers' World".

The main use of QFD includes Quality Planning, Product/Service Development and Process Improvement. It could be complementary to other product development methods such as Six Sigma and Lean.

After the seminar, I represented HKSQ to present a souvenir to Dr. Catherine Chan.

At the end, Dr. Albert Tsang (Ex-Chairman of HKSQ) introduced HKSQ activities and ANQ Congress 2012 which will be held in Hong Kong. A news about HKSQ website placed in Hong Kong Council for Testing and Certification (HKCTC) website was mentioned.

Reference:

HKSQ - http://www.hksq.org/index.asp

HKQFDA - http://www.qfdhk.org/

HKCTC - http://www.hkctc.gov.hk/en/related_site.html

Strategic Inventory Management - Successful Formulas

The Topic of August seminar entitled “Strategic Inventory Management: Successful Formulas that Market Leaders Are Using Everyday”, which organized by An Executive Study Group under the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) and the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corp (HKSTPC) on 26 Aug 2011.

Mr. Mark Lee (MBA, CUHK) presented the content including “Why Inventory Management Matters?”, “Aligned Strategy”, “Harmonic Collaboration”, “Sales and Operation Planning” and “Group Discussion”.

In the beginning, Mr. Lee quoted Mr. Gianpaolo Callioni (Director of Supply Chain Strategy and Planning, HP) that inventory-driven costs equaled the PC business's total operating margin.

Mr. Lee pointed out some challenges to run the business which related to supply chain such as large number of SKU (Stock-Keeping Unit).

Then he introduced strategic structure of inventory management included Aligned Strategy, Harmonic Collaboration and Sales & Operation Planning (S&OP).

For Aligned Strategy, Mr. Lee quoted the founder of Dell Computer (Mr. Michael Dell) statement on inventory that "How Fast" not "How Much". If using "How Much" based on balance sheet, management would cut down the inventory and affected the service level. When it used "How Fast" concept, inventory would decrease without hurting service level.

There were two product characteristics which separated into "Functional" and "Innovative". Functional product is more long term but margin is low. Innovative product is a short term but margin is high. However, they used different strategy on supply chain.

Mr. Lee used Prof. Marshall L. Fisher's Matching table. It indicated Functional Product matched the Efficient Supply Chain and Innovative Product matched the Responsive Supply Chain. Mr. Lee explained that Efficient Supply Chain was a bus and Responsive Supply Chain was a taxi.

Then Mr. Lee quoted Dr. Harry Lee's statement that reduce cycle time to reduce risk by investment on infrastructure. It indicated that production capacity should be reserved (not 100% utilization).

For Harmonic Collaboration, Mr. Lee suggested "Sticking to a Rhythm" such as Toyota's "Takt Time" and Dell's "Inventory Velocity". Supply chain overall performance should be monitored.

Finally, Mr. Lee briefed the Sales & Operations Plan (S&OP). The following figure showed the process positioning of S&OP.

The 4 step workflow of S&OP was introduced.

S&OP worksheet was mention. There are separated into three parts as "Demand", "Operations" and "Inventory".

S&OP process functions involved "Manufacturing", "Sales", "Marketing", "Sourcing & Procurement" and "Finance". This S&OP process included a formal meeting each month ran by the general manager and covered a planning horizon adequate to plan resources effectively. A concise written S&OP policy is needed.

At the end of the seminar, we had an exercise to find out two of the current biggest challenges and one of the least challenge to Inventory from 8 items.

Reference:

The Centre for Logistics Technologies and Supply Chain Optimization, CUHK: http://www.logitsco.cuhk.edu.hk/

HKSTP - www.hkstp.org

2011 Local Healthy Agricultural Food Dinner (本地健康農產品養生宴)

Tonight, my wife and I were invited by Mr. Leo Yuen (Founding Chairman of HKFSTA and Advisor of Healthy Choices Association) to have local healthy agricultural produce dinner. The dinner was organized by Hong Kong Food Science and Technology Association Limited (HKFSTA) and Healthy Choices Association. Vital-Health Livestock Development Limited was the sponsor organization.

In the beginning, Prof. Peter Yu gave an introduction of healthy food.

Some Legislative Council Members were also joined this dinner.

Before the dinner, awards of cooking competition was presented.

Mr. Leo Yuen is one of award presenters.

After that some experts explained the coming different kind of foods. The following photos showed local healthy agricultural produce foods including chicken, pork and vegetable (In Chinese Name).

康和五寶

客家炆健營豬伴蝴蝶餅

清燉鮮韓人參釀老雞湯

鮮胡椒吊燒健營雞

In the middle, organizer played a game with participants about food knowledge.

陳皮紫蘇欖豉蒸釀烏頭魚

祛濕薏米粥泡有機菜

降血杏菇菌雞肉蒸餃子

At the end, a group photo was taken.

The food source is good and I like kamei chicken (嘉美雞) very much.

Reference:

Hong Kong Food Science and Technology Association Limited (HKFSTA) - http://www.hkfsta.com.hk/

Healthy Choices Association - http://www.healthychoicehk.com/

Vital-Health Livestock Development Limited - http://www.kameihonbochicken.com.hk/

Seminar on "Service Gauge"

A seminar entitled "Service Gauge" was organized by Hong Kong Quality Assurance Agency (HKQAA) on 16 Aug 2011. It was a very informative seminar not only theoretical part included, but also practical experience sharing.

In the beginning, HKQAA background and service were briefed.

Several new services, included Service Gauge Mystery Shopper Assessment, Sales Gauge Mystery Shopper Assessment, and Service Quality Management (SQM) Certification Scheme, were mentioned.

The speaker was Mr. Billy Man (General Manager, Market Research Business) and his first topic was "Establishing Service Culture".

He said Service and Selling needed to perform together and both related to Dollar ($). Moreover, he said that Change of Service Culture needed time (~3yrs). The Service Culture included four elements and they were:

A) Establishing Service Standard

B) Positive Communication

C) Breakdown the Barrier of Bureaucracy

D) Continuous Improvement

A) Mr. Man reminded that the standard should be written humanly. The whole service flow should be studied carefully.

B) Positive Communication should be established by, including top management support, service strategy, benefit and experience sharing, importance of internal customer, etc.

C) Art Of War By Sun Zi (孫子兵法) was employed for Alignment.

D) Vision, Mission and Value should be set, as well as service badge / agreement. Setup service culture team and orientation were important.

After the break, Mr. Man introduced the "Service Gauge". It is an open system for front line and back end. The theory is shown as the following figure.

Mr. Man also mentioned that satisfied customer may not be the loyal customer. There were four key elements of customer loyalty.

- Customer satisfaction

- Repeat procurement

- Willing to pay premium

- Willing to introduce your product to others (Word of mouth)

Then Sales competence was discussed. Two key elements were Sales Passion and Sales Technique.

Probing technique called 6P and 2Q were introduced.

6P: Price, Product, Period, People, Purpose and Place

2Q: Quantity and Quality

The seminar is found very useful and it is valuable to consider how to employ these services into different industries.

Reference:

HKQAA “Service Gauge” Mystery Shopper Assessment - http://www.hkqaa.org/en_srservice.php?catid=3

The International Conference & Exhibition of the Modernization of Chinese Medicine & Health Products (ICMCM)

The International Conference & Exhibition of the Modernization of Chinese Medicine & Health Products (ICMCM) is organized by the HKTDC and the Modernized Chinese Medicine International Association Ltd (MCMIA) takes place at the HKCEC from 11 to 15 Aug 2011, providing a leading global platform for the latest traditional Chinese medicine, health-care products and services. I joined the ICMCM today and would like to share some booths below.

Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTPC) had a booth. I took a photo in front of that booth.

Inside the booth, some information about HKSTPC such as its service and support were briefed. One of aims is "Making Hong Kong a Global Biotechnology Hub".

In the testing corner, Hong Kong Council for Testing and Certification (HKCTC) booth was found.

HKCTC encouraged "Tested in Hong Kong, Certified in Hong Kong".

Other testing and certification related bodies had booths in this corner.

University corner was found. Photo is the booth of Hong Kong Institute of Biotechnology Ltd.

I met Mr. Tomson Lee (Manager, CityU Business & Industrial Club - Knowledge Transfer Office) and discussed some R&D project in City University of Hong Kong.

International Society for Chinese Medicine was come from Macau (also located in the University of Macau).

A visitor discussed with staff of Hong Kong Jockey Club Institute of Chinese Medicine (HKJCICM).

A concurrent event named "Food Expo" was performed in the same place.

Reference:

ICMCM - http://www.hktdc.com/fair/icmcm-en/International-Conference-and-Exhibition-of-the-Modernization-of-Chinese-Medicine-and-Health-Products.html