Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is a structured methodology that uses a series of matrices, starting with the "House of Quality," to translate customer requirements (the "Voice of the Customer") into technical design characteristics. This process continues by cascading these technical characteristics into part characteristics, process plans, and finally, production controls. This systematic and documented linkage at each stage creates an explicit and verifiable trail. This trail allows stakeholders to trace a customer requirement forward to its specific implementation details (forward traceability) and to trace a technical feature or process step backward to the original customer need it was designed to satisfy (backward traceability). Therefore, QFD inherently provides a mechanism for tracing value throughout the development lifecycle.

The alternative option, "False," is incorrect. The fundamental purpose and mechanism of the QFD process are to create and maintain a clear, documented connection between customer-defined value and the technical solutions implemented to deliver that value. To suggest QFD cannot be used for traceability would be to misunderstand its core function.

1. QAI Global Institute, Certified Software Quality Analyst (CSQA) Body of Knowledge, Version 2018.

Section: Skill Category 4: Quality Leadership, Part C: Quality Improvement Processes.

Reference: The CSQA Body of Knowledge describes QFD as a method for "translating customer wants and needs... into engineering characteristics." It emphasizes the use of matrices to "flow down" these requirements through design, parts deployment, process planning, and production. This "flow down" or cascading process is the foundation of traceability, creating a direct link from the initial customer input to the final product characteristic.

2. Cohen, L. (1995). Quality Function Deployment: How to Make QFD Work for You. Addison-Wesley.

Chapter 2: The QFD Process, pp. 25-28.

Reference: This foundational text on QFD explains the "four-phase" approach, where the "hows" from one matrix become the "whats" of the next. This cascading of matrices (Product Planning -> Part Deployment -> Process Planning -> Production Planning) creates a direct, traceable link from the initial customer voice to the shop floor instructions, explicitly enabling both forward and backward traceability.

3. Akao, Y. (Ed.). (1990). Quality Function Deployment: Integrating Customer Requirements into Product Design. Productivity Press.

Chapter 1: The History and Development of Quality Function Deployment, pp. 12-15.

Reference: As one of the originators of QFD, Akao explains that the "quality chart" (a precursor to the House of Quality) and its subsequent deployment tables are designed to ensure that "customer-required quality is deployed into the design quality for each functional component... and then to the quality of each part and process." This documented deployment is the essence of traceability.