3 experimental part

4 TECHNICAL, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE DEVELOPMENT

1. Deployment of the soft cheese quality function without ripening

At present, the domestic consumer market for food products is stable and quite successful, which are explained by the ability to meet consumer requirements for the availability of safe and high-quality products, as well as to optimally use the potential of modern management, and to implement international standards and quality management systems. Russia's accession to the WTO, the establishment of the Customs Union and, consequently, the introduction of the Technical Regulations of the Customs Union, in particular "On the safety of milk and dairy products" (TR CU 033/2013) [132] have actual application, based on international best practices, of quality and product safety management systems and principles at domestic enterprises.
Abroad, as well as in our country, complex tools and methodologies for product quality improvement are actively and productively used. Special attention should be paid to such methods as quality function deployment (QFD-methodology); problem solving methodology; reengineering; G. Taguchi; Six Sigma; benchmarking; self-assessment; failure mode type and effect analysis (FMEA-methodology); teamwork in teams, etc.
Despite the existing peculiarities of application, QFD has long been successfully applied by many companies in Japan and the USA, and has recently been actively implemented in Europe as well. The modern public presents QFD as a key engineering tool to harness the potential of multifunctional working companies to productively manage the process of creating innovative products [106].
In this regard, one of the most attractive ways is to introduce innovative dairy products into production, for which the QFD or 'Voice of the Customer' method is advisable.
Quality function deployment, is a method of systematic and structured formation of consumer desires (at an early stage) into product quality requirements. QFD-methodology is an original Japanese development, according to which all consumer desires are transferred into detailed technical parameters (characteristics) of products and their production goals using matrices. The resulting structure (consisting of several matrix tables) used within the QFD-methodology is called "quality house" due to its form. The presented technical requirements for production make it possible to ensure the production of high quality products. As a result of the QFD methodology, together with the development of equipment requirements and manufacturing process operations are connected as building blocks in the standard work instructions for each step of the production process [3].
The QFD methodology is applied to provide a good understanding of customer expectations in the design, development and improvement of products, services and processes, using a more proactive orientation towards identified and anticipated customer needs. The methodology is a technology for designing competitive products based on improving production processes [4]. The main purpose of quality function deployment is to orient subjective quality criteria towards a set of technical characteristics, possibly measurable and possibly applicable to the design and manufacture of products. QFD is the primary method among effective methods in the design process of innovative products. At the heart of QFD is the application of a series of matrices called "quality houses", which allow linking consumer requirements for quality level with product properties, product parameters with engineering
The QFD method has not yet found widespread application in Russia, particularly in the food processing industry. In Russia, the QFD method, especially in the food industry, has not yet found wide application. Our country also lags behind in quality management issues. The method of "structuring quality functions" consists of several stages. The first stage involved market research based on surveying consumers of products through questionnaires and subsequent analysis of the data obtained.
In order to improve the quality of the soft cheese samples under study without ripening, QFD methodology was applied and a "quality house" was built.
Using QFD-methodology, we identified the wishes (needs) of St. Petersburg consumers, namely: nutritional value, safety, shelf life, taste, smell, colour, appearance, price level. For this purpose, we carried out a questionnaire survey and analysed the data obtained, which were entered into the "House of Quality" in the section "Consumer Expectations". The survey was carried out by interview method. Two questionnaires were prepared for the survey. One questionnaire contained questions for consumers' opinions on dairy products (cheese in particular), while the other was designed for producers of these dairy products. Each questionnaire contained closed-ended questions, each of which included all the possible answers from which the respondent made his or her choice. People of all age categories took part in the survey (Figure 19).

Figure19 - Distribution of respondents by age group
The diagram shows that the proportion of respondents aged 20-30 years is 45%, 31-40 years is 25% and older is 5%. The frequency of purchase of dairy products is presented in the figure From the 20.survey it was seen that the majority of the respondents surveyed purchase cheese products 2-3 times a week.

Figure 20 - Frequency of purchasing dairy products Most of the interviewees buy hard cheese products
25% prefer soft cheeses and only 7% buy brine cheeses.
The majority of respondents prefer domestically produced dairy products, pointing out that the range of dairy products is not broad enough and that they are overpriced. When buying dairy products, most respondents base their purchases on their personal experience, paying attention to the quality of the product and the design of the packaging.
The respondents' opinions on the main quality indicators of marketed dairy products were studied: nutritional value, safety, shelf life, taste, smell, colour, appearance, price level. All this data was processed statistically. The first place, according to the consumers, is the safety of the product, the second place - taste, colour, smell, the third - nutritional value, the last thing the respondents pay attention to was the appearance (Figure 21).



Figure 21 - Rating of quality indicators for dairy products (consumer opinion)
At the same time, dairy producers were interviewed. In times of fierce competition, producers expand the range and improve the quality of their products in order to attract consumers. Producers' opinions on dairy products partially coincide with those of consumers (Figure 21) [149].
Based on consumer expectations, after defining a list of quality indicators, the importance of the indicators was determined. Statistical processing of the ranked indicators (a five-point scale was used) was carried out to determine the degree of importance of the dairy quality indicators. The results were entered into the "house of quality" in the column "Importance for the consumer". On this scale, the value corresponds5 to "Very important", 4 to "Important", 3 to "Less important, but would like to have", 2 to "Not very important" and 1 to "Not at all important" (Figure 22).

Figure 22 - Part of the Quality House

The first place in the ranking was shelf life and product safety, the second place was quality and packaging, and the last place was the product's price level.
The construction of the House of Quality begins with its left-hand side, a table presenting a complete list of product quality requirements translated into specific technical specifications and the consumer's assessment of each of these components.
The next step is to determine the competitive ranking of consumers. In order to produce this ranking, it was necessary to compare the competitiveness of the market. To do this, several product samples were selected, and an assessment was made to determine the consumer's requirements. A five-point scale was used in the evaluation. The results were entered in the calculations of the House of Quality in the Consumer Score section (Figure 22).
Next, based on the resulting consumer rating, the target values for each consumer expectation had to be determined. A five-point scale was used for this purpose. For the characteristics that do not require improvement, the target values were set at the same level. The data was entered into the Quality House in the Target Values column (Figure 22).
Using the target values obtained, the degree of improvement was calculated using formula 9:
Degree of improvement = Target value / Consumer assessment (9)
The results of the calculations using this formula were entered in the "house of quality" column in the "degree of improvement" column.
The absolute value of each product characteristic was calculated using the formula10 :
Feature Weighting = Importance to the consumer * Degree of improvement (10)
The weighting values were recorded in the corresponding column in the "house of quality". Then the relative weighting was calculated as a percentage. The values were recorded in the "house of quality" (Figure 22).
The analysis of the data shows that the most important thing for producers of dairy products should not be shelf life and product safety, but hygiene of production, followed by technical equipment and only in last place - the number of sales.
The next step in building the quality house is to define the technical requirements. After defining the objectives of the quality improvement project, it is worth defining the criteria by which the objectives are to be achieved. This step involves establishing a list of important technical specifications, which then influence the quality of the product. The specifications are entered in the 'Quality House' under 'Technical Requirements', as shown in Figure 23.
The relationship between technical specifications and consumer expectations was then determined by filling in the central part of the 'House of Quality' (Figure 24). If the technical characteristics do not meet the consumer's expectations, a blank line remains in the relationship matrix.


Figure23 - Determining technical specifications
Symbolic criteria were used to understand the relationships in the Quality House. In the cells of the relationship matrix, it is necessary to enter numerical values for the significance of the relationship, which is calculated according to formula 15:
Significance of relationship = Strength of relationship - Relative
weight (15)
The values of the sum of all the correlation significance numbers were transferred to the row
"Total score". Next, the sum of all the summary scores was calculated, and the "Priority" line was filled in. Then the technical characteristic that is worth paying close attention to in product design was determined. It can be seen from the 'House of Quality' data that the technical characteristic 'quality stability' has the highest priority at 31.0%.

Figure24 - Filling in the matrix

The next step is to carry out a technical analysis. The technical values of the analysed soft cheese samples were compared with those obtained during the tests. The values were recorded in the "House of Quality". Then the target values of the characteristics were recorded (figure 25).
As can be seen, the greatest influence on the quality of the product comes from the stability of the quality and the training of the staff. In order to improve the quality of the product and, consequently, to increase its competitiveness, the producer should pay special attention to taste and smell, the appearance of the product and the price level.
Dairy producers need to listen to consumers and take these product quality indicators into account in order to increase their competitiveness. Building a 'Quality House' provides an opportunity to address a number of critical issues in the design of new products.

Figure25 - Ready-made "House of Quality"

Building a 'House of Quality' makes it possible, firstly, to identify the main and priority wishes of the customer. Secondly, to translate these wishes into technical specifications. Thirdly, to create and produce a quality product with characteristics aimed at satisfying all the basic and most important needs of the consumer.
The use of this method will make it possible to produce products that are in demand and, at the design stage of new products, to study public demand and the level of requirements placed on them, as well as the advantages of competitors. All the data obtained are taken into account by the manufacturer in the development of new products and ensure that the company produces products that will be in demand.

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