may be estimated by a structural equation system, one example is
Poulsen et al. (1996).
Finally, the Total Food Quality model can serve as an overall frame-
work for the analysis of consumers’ quality perception and its relation
to the design of food products (Grunert et al., 1996). This theoretical ap-
proach is particularly relevant for the future work with the House of
Quality where each of the constructs in the model are operationalized in
terms of manifest variables of both subjective and objective quality.
House of Quality
In order to concretize what QFD is, we can take a look at the type of
information collected in the House of Quality in Figure 11.2, the first
matrix in QFD (Hauser and Clausing, 1988). This consists of a number
of tables organized in such a way as to resemble a house. It is essential
to understand how a House of Quality is formed and “read.” In many
respects, it is like drawing and reading a map.
The House of Quality consists of two dimensions, the horizontal con-
sumer (customer) dimension and the vertical company (technical) di-
mension. The house is read and filled in starting at the far left with the
consumer dimension, which consists of three parts: the consumer needs
and wants (whats), the importance of these and the consumer percep-
tion (ratings) of the company’s own product and main competing prod-
ucts at the right-hand side. The consumer needs are usually identified in
qualitative consumer studies, for instance, focus groups. For food, in-
cluding fruit and vegetables, the voice is closely related to the senses of
the consumer, since one of the most common requirements is good sen-
sory quality. The consumer needs include attributes that they find im-
portant for good sensory quality for specific foods. The importance of
the needs is measured or estimated in the following quantitative study
in which consumers’ perceptions of the sensory quality are measured for
each of the identified attributes as well as overall acceptance. The sen-
sory analysis involving consumers is treated as an integrated part of the
market research and the quantitative study includes measurement of con-
sumer behavior and attitudes as well as demographic questions.
The technical dimension consists of the quality characteristics (mea-
surable or documentable attributes) corresponding to the consumer
needs. At the bottom of the House of Quality, we find the technical as-
sessments on these attributes.
House of Quality 205