Utilizing Quality Function Deployment to Create a Quality Requirement Matrix for Biofuel Refinery Inputs via Voice of Customer Techniques

Abstract

There is currently no useful method in place for researchers to determine what qualities of biomass the ethanol refineries desire. However, an industrial engineering quality tool typically used in new product development, Quality Function Deployment (QFD), could be adapted to the biomass supply situation. This tool will be applied to an input supply system specifically for production of advanced biofuels from biomass feedstocks to determine desired qualities of biomass and provide the best product to the refineries. This requires gathering and analyzing the Voice of the Customer (VOC) from biomass conversion experts and constructing a House of Quality (HOQ) that details the qualities desired by those customers in order to propose engineering measures for satisfying those requirements. Quality Function Deployment will be demonstrated as a quality tool that can be applied towards a supply process within agricultural engineering.The adapted tool could be used by biomass producers to solicit the qualities desired by biorefineries and develop engineering specifications to work towards. It could also be used by the biofuel production facility to define and rank the required qualities of biomass and create product specifications that the facility could provide to the supplier to ensure a consistent high-quality supply. Implementation of such a method would also create a research tool to supplement research proposals to help ensure that the project addresses the specific areas of concern to those affected by the research results.This study shows that QFD can be successfully applied to the biofuel supply system and gives the process for carrying out the analysis.