ITI and Hans Hjort Partnering to Provide Unmatched Product Planning

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MILFORD, OH; JULY 18, 2005 --- International TechneGroup Incorporated (ITI), announces that noted Quality Function Deployment (QFD) authority Hans Hjort is working with the company to help ITI clients ensure new product success. Hans brings his 15 years of product development experience and his 18 years of facilitating QFD development teams to educate companies on how to plan, choose and design winning products and improve time to market.

QFD is today gaining popularity in the development of new products and services. This may be attributed to renewed interest in applying Design for Six Sigma along with a more clear appreciation of its role as an integral part of the overall product planning and implementation process as well as the enabler for the CPM (critical parameter management) process of Design for Six Sigma.

"Many companies attempted to implement QFD in the past have, for any number of reasons failed to obtain the expected benefits," explained Hans Hjort. "In these cases the application of QFD is typically abandoned completely or had its role reduced to that of a data documentation tool instead of the proactive planning tool it was meant to be."

Common Mistakes

Market strategy (or product strategy) not driven by the QFD process

Once the planning matrix was complete it was business as usual (no visible linkage back to the VOC from downstream activities)

QFD used to confirm product decisions already made (did not drive new ideas)

Development team failed to link the project decisions to the overall business strategy and internal criteria for success

Too many product specification changes during the development process

Development team had a difficulty agreeing on project direction and decisions

"Common mistakes can be avoided with a knowledgeable approach to QFD allowing organizations to reap benefits similar to those experienced by a couple of recent efforts by major companies," said Hjort. "In one example, a QFD-aided product development effort increased market share from 50% to 75% while transforming the product in the mind of customers from a �commodity� to an �asked for� product. In another example the use of QFD facilitated an exceptional cooperative spirit within all affected areas for the client. The result was a quick re-capture of lost market share without sacrificing profitability."

About ITI
With global headquarters in Milford, Ohio (USA), ITI is the world's leading provider of consulting, software products and related integration services that enable clients to dramatically improve their product and manufacturing process development capabilities. ITI is the world's largest independent provider of product data integration products and services. The Company's Concurrent Product and Manufacturing Process Development (CPPD�) tools and technology shorten product development time cycles and reduce product and manufacturing process development costs.