Get it right with quality-function deployment. (HP's 34401A digit multimeter) (includes related article on HP's development methods) (one of four articles in Design It Right, part 1)

EDN, October, 1992 by Strassberg, Dan

When HP's Loveland (CO) Instrument Div began to think about what eventually became the 34401A 6 1/2-digit multimeter, people at the division had been attending courses on a management technique called quality-function deployment (QFD).

One objective of QFD is to help designers decide what features a new product really ought to have and what features--though possibly nice--would have little effect on the product's success.

Needless to say, there were skeptics, but Mark Bailey, the program manager for the new meter, was willing to give QFD a try. The 34401A was to be a popularly priced unit (HP ultimately set the selling price at $995), which meant that the market was large and highly competitive, and the stakes were high: With sales over its life...

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