Competitiveness and sustainability of the olive-oil sector are strongly associated with
the satisfaction of customer demand and preferences towards quality, safety, and
environmental issues. In product design and development, Quality Function
Deployment (QFD) provides a comprehensive, systematic approach to ensure agrifood
products meet or exceed customer expectations. QFD can be a powerful tool because it
can reduce time to market, improve quality, and enhance customer satisfaction.
Although QFD has been used in the food industry since 1987, no application has been
found in the case of olive oil.
In this study, after identifying customer needs or requirements of different attributes of
quality olive oil, by a survey to 439 respondents to determine preference and
consumption behaviour, agricultural practices that optimally satisfy these preferences
were determined, through a Quality Function Deployment (QFD) model using expert
knowledge.
The use of the correlation matrix and then the construction of the "House of Quality"
(HOQ), the relative contribution of each of these practices that most satisfy customer
needs and desires were designed. These matrices are used to translate higher-level
“Whats” or needs into lower-level “Hows” – agronomical practices (technical
characteristics) to satisfy these needs.
The findings are helpful for designing agricultural policies and marketing strategies to
improve sustainability and competitiveness of Spanish olive oil