Application of Quality Function Deployment in Sport Bra Product Development

Abstract

Apparel design and product development is complicate. The product itself is highly involved in functional, aesthetical and expression characteristic. In a large organization, the communication among all related units in order to develop a new product are inefficient. To promote a cross-functional working team, Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is applied on a sport bra product development of the leading sport bra manufacturing in Thailand. The study includes a marketing survey on target customers (judgmental sample size = 79) and a QFD application on product development planning process. The study shows the potential of using QFD as a tool for product development and it facilitates the communication and information transferred between marketing to research and development and to raw material unit, respectively. With this technological management tool, the product development process is more efficient.