Ace Your CSCP Supply Chain Professional Exam

Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is a systematic process for gathering customer requirements and ensuring they are incorporated into the design and planning of a new product or service. Here's how it works:

• Customer Voice: QFD begins with collecting and understanding customer needs and expectations, often referred to as the "voice of the customer."
• House of Quality: These needs are translated into design requirements through a tool called the House of Quality, which helps prioritize features based on customer importance.
• Cross-Functional Teams: QFD involves cross-functional teams to ensure that all relevant perspectives (e.g., marketing, engineering, manufacturing) are considered in the design process.
• Integration: The process ensures that customer needs are systematically integrated into product design, reducing the risk of missing key features or quality attributes.

QFD is thus a comprehensive approach to ensuring that customer needs are central to product development from the outset.

References:

• Akao, Y. (1990). Quality Function Deployment: Integrating Customer Requirements into Product Design. Productivity Press.
• Cohen, L. (1995). Quality Function Deployment: How to Make QFD Work for You. Addison-Wesley.

When making a make-or-buy decision, several factors must be considered beyond costs and proprietary knowledge. The option to "make" implies manufacturing the product in-house, while "buy" means outsourcing the production. Key considerations include:

• Costs: Both fixed and variable costs associated with in-house production versus purchasing from a supplier.
• Proprietary Knowledge: The importance of keeping certain knowledge and technologies within the company for competitive advantage.
• Available Capacity: Whether the company has the necessary production capacity to manufacture the product without affecting other operations. This involves assessing current production capabilities and future scalability.
• Quality Control: The ability to maintain the desired level of quality in-house versus the quality assurance capabilities of potential suppliers.
• Flexibility and Lead Time: The ability to respond quickly to market changes and customer demands.
• Strategic Importance: How critical the component or product is to the company's core business and strategic goals.

Among the given options, "available capacity" is the most relevant factor, as it directly influences the decision of whether to allocate internal resources to production or to outsource.

References:

• Chopra, S., & Meindl, P. (2016). Supply Chain Management: Strategy, Planning, and Operation. Pearson.
• Slack, N., & Lewis, M. (2017). Operations Strategy. Pearson.

Continuous improvement, often referred to as Kaizen, focuses on making small, incremental changes to processes with the goal of improving efficiency and quality. Here’s a breakdown of why option A is correct:

• Never-ending effort to expose and eliminate root causes of problems: Continuous improvement is an ongoing process that seeks to identify and address the fundamental causes of inefficiencies and issues.
• Management effort to reduce cycle time: While reducing cycle time is a component of continuous improvement, the primary focus is on identifying root causes.
• Big-step improvements: Continuous improvement typically involves small, incremental changes rather than large, radical changes.
• Supplier replenishment: This describes a vendor-managed inventory system, not the essence of continuous improvement. Thus, the best description of continuous improvement is a never-ending effort to expose and eliminate root causes of problems.

References

• Imai, M. (1986). Kaizen: The Key to Japan's Competitive Success.
• Liker, J. K. (2004). The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World's Greatest Manufacturer.

• Context: Charging different prices for the same service in different market segments involves understanding the value derived from different customer groups.
• Options Breakdown:
• Correct Answer Justification: LCV provides insight into how much value different customer segments bring to the company over time, allowing businesses to tailor pricing strategies to maximize profitability from each segment.

References:

• Marketing and pricing strategy literature
• Studies on customer value and segmentation