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Quality function deployment (QFD) is a proven tool for process and product development, which translates the voice of customer (VoC) into engineering characteristics (EC), and prioritises the ECs, based on the customer's requirements. Conventional QFD evaluates these targets for crisp weights of the customer attributes (CA), identified from the VoCs. The VoCs are not crisp and generally exhibit a well‐defined distribution. Crisp weights assigned to non‐crisp CAs can lead to wrong prioritisation of the EC. In the past, fuzzy numbers have been used to represent the imprecise nature of these judgements and to define more appropriately the relationship between EC and CA. This paper proposes fuzzy logic‐quality function deployment (FL‐QFD) – the use of fuzzy logic principles in QFD. It is an innovative method of determining optimum rating of ECs by simulating the QFD matrix for randomized CA rating in the fuzzied range. The rule‐based knowledge system defines the relationship between the ECs and the CAs. The flexible manufacturing system (FMS) design problem investigated by Khoo and Ho (Khoo, L.P. and Ho., N.C., “Framework of a fuzzy quality function deployment system”, International Journal of Production Research, Vol. 34, 1996, pp. 299‐311) is presented to show the application of the proposed model. The results are compared and examined to study the effect of the CA on prioritising the EC. The paper addresses the issue of defining non‐crisp customer attributes in the QFD, and offers practical help to an individual intending to further investigate the proposed model.

The author aims to review the fundamental concept of quality function deployment and to discuss the facts that the road to success for new product development is the identification of customers' requirements and their conversion into engineering design requirements. Thereafter, the author seeks to present an in‐depth review of the subject and to study five new cases on the topic of quality function deployment.

The paper discusses the key elements of quality function deployment and the fact that the vision for the development of a comprehensive quality system can be built on the principles of quality function deployment taking customer requirements into consideration and relating them to design requirements.

To make the product development task successful and bring competitive advantages to the core business, management must be committed to the needs of customers through marketing surveys and implementing these in the process of product development by converting them into engineering design requirements.

This article reviews quality function deployment and its extensions such as fuzzy QFD, AHP and QFD, statistically extended QFD, dynamic QFD, and other extensions. In addition, cases covering the topics of a ship of quality, cost‐design parameter modeling, an enhanced version of quality function development, financial factors and uncertainties in the product design process with fuzzy formulation, and a model for prioritizing and designing rule changes for the game of soccer, are also reviewed.

The purpose of this paper to develop a novel strategic approach to handle corrective maintenance procedure in the event of a breakdown/disruption of service. A proposal to minimize the recovery time and the breakdown cost in the system in construction plant is presented.

The past plant breakdown records of a construction organization are considered for the analysis. From the previous breakdown records, a high level metric using Pareto analysis and the cause effect analysis is used to identify the main breakdown main codes (BMC) and the subsequent breakdown sub codes (BSC). Prioritized BMC and BSCs are used to formulate dedicated breakdown maintenance teams, which act swiftly in the event of the breakdown with the modified methods.

The study was conducted, on four different types of heavy lifting/earth moving/material handling system equipment, which are used to load/unload/haul and transport construction materials. Failure due to tyre puncture and allied problems contribute to maximum failure. A strategy plan to minimize this type of failure is proposed. With the identification of the most contributing BMCs and BSCs, it is further proposed to develop an “overall breakdown maintenance management”.

The collected data pertains to the construction plant located in a particular region, namely the Middle East, and hence the proposed solution is dedicated/relatively applicable to similar plant from the same region. A more robust model can be suggested considering the work environment in the other regions.

The proposed methodology is highly adaptable by similar industries operating in the Middle East region.

Construction plant and equipment contribute to the success of construction organizations, by providing enhanced output, reduced manpower requirement, ease of work and timely completion of the project. Delays in completion of projects generally have both social and economical impact on the contractors and the buyers. The proposed model will bring down the lead‐time of the project and enable the contractors to crash down their project completion time.

Numerous studies on preventive maintenance models and procedures are available for a system and in particular to construction plant maintenance in the literature. This model attempts to handle the issues of unpredictable breakdowns in the construction plant to minimise the breakdown time. The proposed model is a novel approach which enables a quick recovery of the construction plant, attributed from the breakdown parameters derived from the previous history of the work records/environment.

This study attempts to analyze the overall effectiveness of Lean System (LS)-based India post facility layout design (FLD) selection.

We have grouped all Lean Six Sigma elements into three different categories: Lean Technical Practices, Lean Workplace Environment Practices, and Lean Ergonomics Practices based on literature support and field surveys in the Indian postal service. Further, it employs a mathematical model known as the graph theory (GT) method. From the GT approach, interactions were identified through LS tools represented through the digraph, matrix model approach. This study was directed at the National Sorting Hub in Mysuru, Karnataka, in the southern part of India. A number of insights were given in the GT area where FLD is possible to evaluate.

The results showed that Layout five has the highest value, followed by Layout one from the GT approach. The relative relevance and effect values are given as inputs to the permanent function in the digraph technique, and an evaluation index is obtained as an output.

When solving any optimization issue with a high number of attributes, the digraph and matrix technique is successful. The layouts that have been identified have yielded valuable insights into how to enhance critical decision-making processes, which are necessary to accomplish company strategic objectives like growing postal business services.

The process operations carried out in India post service as well as its heterogeneity of articles and the intangible measures of production are the significant challenges to keenly analyze the layout design through lean service principles.