In
September, the 17th International Symposium on QFD was hosted by
QFD-Institut
Deutschland e.V. in collaboration with the International Council for
Quality Function Deployment (ICQFD), the Universität
Stuttgart and the Fraunhofer
Institute for Manufacturing and Automation, IPA, in
Stuttgart, Germany.
We want to give a short review of a interesting, knowledge enlarging
and wonderful event. In addition to
the great
papers and presentations we want to highlight as well the international
and interhuman communication in the field of QFD and the connections
far beyond.
The Keynote
Speeches were presented by
Engelbert Westkämper: "New paradigms of Advanced Manufacturing
Engineering",
Glenn Mazur: "Sustaining the QFD Effort: What are the minimum requirements for successful QFD?" and
Yoji Akao: "Historical Development and the Basis of QFD".
The Concluding Speech was held by
Georg Herzwurm
and Wolfram Pietsch:
"QFD - Where are we and where do we go from here?"
The Best Papers were awarded in three different categories:
1) "Acknowledgement of achievements regarding the application
of Quality Function Deployment":
The
development of compostable plastics as a sustainable strategy for
protecting against world change by unsing ECO-QFD
Ketthip
Anuwareephong, Pichet Rojanapitayakorn,
Kritaya Suparnpongs, Paweena Lertchanyakul.
2) "Acknowledgement of achievements regarding QFD
Methodology":
Why we need matrices in QFD
Monika Thiess,
Walter Jahn,
Gerd Streckfuss.
3) "Acknowledgement regarding theoretical achievements related to
QFD":
Evaluating AHP Questionnaire Feedback with Statistical Methods
Stefan Schurr.
The Akao
Prize dinner took place
in the ambience of the New Castle. The program started with
the handover of the Akao Prize® that was awarded to
Jutta Saatweber by Yoji Akao and Glenn Mazur. The
eventwassurrounded byclassicalmusic, whichthrew theparticipantsina sophisticatedsentiment. The keynote
was given by Mr. Frederick Cord Stähler (Siemens
AG Healthcare Sector). The evening was rounded by a typical
Swabian buffet in the wonderful atmosphere of the New Castle.