Employment of the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) Method in the Development of Food Products

Currently, in a more intensive way, companies have been forced to adapt to the new competitive market. The technological industry changes’ occurring since the 80’s brought implications for the international competition, specially the demarcation of new areas of global competition. That happens due to the acceleration of technological changes added by the shortening of the life cycle of products and processes, besides the increasing of the products differentiation. In fact, what is observed is that these factors have not only led companies to restructure their production systems and their types of management, but above all, to guarantee the capacity to deliver to a market, products even more sophisticated. The ability to realize alternatives to compete in the market, to develop strategies and to invest in appropriate training that is what has ensured the survival and profitability of organizations in this new structure. In terms of food industry competition, what is observed is that the integrity of the product has become the main focus. This means that product excellence, in the food industry, goes beyond simply offering goods with basic attributes. These attributes have only become a precondition for the company to keep playing the competitive game. In fact, nowadays, the products must not only satisfy, but above all, surprise their customers. What is realized is that these consumers have accumulated experience with several products and become sensitive to small differences in many ways. This means that innovations in products and processes increase the excellence standard of product, making the process of development an essential factor for the competition of enterprises. Certainly, the best projects require staff competence, efficiency in the work, on the exchange of information between functions and on the understanding of the market needs into technical language. They also require efficiency in problem solving and in the use of its resources. In this sense the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) method has proven to be efficient in order to translate in a more effectively way the needs and expectations of consumers, to promote greater interaction between the teams involved in the project, to accelerate the solution of problems and to reduce the development time. The QFD was invented in the late 1960’s in Japan. Within the context of TQC (Total Quality Control), the Japanese model of quality management system was responsible to cause a revolution in the production system of that country. All that was possible, due to the