QFD, an Implement for Improving Management and Service Provision in Irrigation and Drainage Networks (Case Study: Ghazvin Irrigation District)

An ignoring of the customers'' demands constitutes one of the most important problematic issues to be reconsidered in design and operation of irrigation and drainage projects. This، if not properly heeded would cause many inconveniences، specially farmer''s dissatisfaction and as a consequence inefficiency of the constructed water works. Towards this، employment of the patterns of management in successful cooperation could be an effective approach to successful irrigation network management. Among some several management methods، the quality performance application، QFD (Quality Function Deployment) is a notable implement to translate the voice of customer into service providing. An employment of the quality factors would lead the organization to themes that are notable to the customers. In this paper، the state of affairs of operation is investigated through an application of the data of status quo vs. the previous experiences of one of the major irrigation districts in Iran (Ghazvin Irrigation District) while using QFD management method and creating the HOQ (House of Quality). Also through an analysis of the results، some solutions have been proposed and categorized to increase the service quality for water users. The results indicated that application of QFD in management of irrigation and drainage networks، similar to other themes of management، works so useful in quality improvement and as well in service provisions.