Yoji Akao
Yoji Akao was a Japanese planning specialist recognized as the developer of Hoshin Kanri. With the late Shigeru Mizuno, he developed Quality Function Deployment. Akao and Mizuno also co-founded the Quality Function Deployment Institute: a non-profit organization dedicated to dissemination and advancement of QFD.
Akao received a Ph.D. in 1964 from the Tokyo Institute of Technology.Books
Akao authored or co-authored several books: