You are a quality management consultant for the Beserk Tennis Ball Company. Beserk is redesigning its current model of tennis ball, and you are asked to use QFD analysis to make suggestions about tennis ball specifications. You survey customers, gather data, crunch numbers, and produce the following correlation matrix:

a. Which of the following is apparently true, looking at your correlation matrix? i. Customers indicate that tennis balls with thick shells stay bouncy longer. ii. Customers indicate that tennis balls with thin shells stay bouncy longer. iii. Customers indicate that tennis balls with thin shells stay clean.

b. Which of the following is apparently true, looking at your correlation matrix? i. How easy a tennis ball is to see is related to how much latex is used in creat- ing its shell. ii. How easy a tennis ball is to see is related to the depth of its nap. iii. Customers think the current model of Beserk tennis ball bounces funny.

c. Beserk is considering changing the nap on its tennis balls. What suggestions do you have, based on your correlation analysis? i. If Beserk makes the nap deeper (fuzzier), customers will probably complain that the new model of Beserk tennis ball doesn't stay clean as long. ii. If Beserk increases the amount of nylon used in the nap, customers will probably complain that the new model of Beserk tennis ball doesn't stay clean as long. iii. If Beserk makes the nap deeper (fuzzier), customers will probably complain that the new model of Beserk tennis ball is more difficult to see.

d. Assume that customers considered the first three attributes to be equally impor- tant, and consider each one to be three times as important as the last attribute, Stays Clean. Furthermore, no known synergies exist among any of the technical specifications. Sketch a complete QFD house of quality diagram, organizing all of Beserk's product design information.

Transcribed Image Text:

Technical Specifications Easy to See Doesn't Bounce Funny Stays Bouncy Stays Clean Thickness of shell -0.35635 0.991189 0.994933 -0.17159 Depth of nap -0.98473 0.391293 0.292968 -0.9747 Density of nap 0.188562 0.724196 0.771694 0.272394 % Nylon in nap 0.208248 0.386664 0.623205 0.262111 % Latex in shell 0.236801 -0.97232 -0.98992 0.042232 The nap is the fuzzy covering on a tennis ball.