TAGUCHIS

METHODS

Genichi Taguchi
INTRODUCTION
Professor Genichi Taguchi was the director of the Japanese
Academy of quality and four times receipt of the Deming Prize.
He starts where SPC (temporarily) finishes. He can help with the
identification of common cause of variation, the most difficult to
determine and eliminate in process.
He attempts to go even further: he tries to make the process and the
product robust against their effect (eliminate of the effect rather then the
cause) at the design stage.
Even if the removal of the effect is impossible, he provides a
systematic procedure for controlling the noise (through tolerance design)
at the minimum cost.
When Dr. Taguchi was first brought his ideas to America in 1980, he
was already well known in Japan for his contribution to quality
engineering.

Traditional Taguchis
There is Good or Bad
Products only as per Limits.
When a product moves from
its target will cause the loss
even if the product lies or
not within Limits.
Traditional and Taguchis
Defination of Quality
Objective of Taguchi Methods
1)Minimize the variation in product response while
keeping the mean response on target.
2)The product can be made robust to changes in
operating and environmental conditions.
3)Since the method is applied in a systematic way
at a pre-production stage (off-line), it can greatly
reduce the number of time-consuming tests, thus
saving in costs and wasted products.

Example of Robust
Taguchi Loss Function : Definition
Quality is the loss a product causes to society
after being shipped, other then any losses
caused by its intrinsic functions.
By loss Taguchi refers to the following two
categories:
Loss caused by variability of function.
Loss caused by harmful side effects.

An example of loss caused by variability if function would be
an automobile that does not start in cold weather. The cars
owner would suffer a loss if he or she had to pay some to start
a car. The car owners employer losses the services of the
employee who is now late for work.

Comparing the Quality Levels of
SONY TV Sets Made in JAPAN and
in SAN DIEGO
The front page of the Ashi News on April 17,1979
compared the quality levels of Sony color TV sets
made in Japanese plants and those made in San
Diego, California, plant. The quality characteristic
used to compare these sets was the color density
distribution, which affect color balance. Although
all the color TV sets had the same design, most
American customers thought that the color TV sets
made in San Diego plant were of lower quality than
those made in Japan.

Distribution of the Quality
characteristic
Colour density of the TV sets from Japanese Sony plants are
normally disturbed around the target value m, and S.D is 10/6.

Color density of San Diego TV sets is uniformly distributed
rather than normally distributed. Therefore, the S.D of these
uniformly distributed objective characteristics is about 10/12.
Process Capability study
The process capability index(Cp) is defined as the
tolerance specification divided by 6 times the standard
deviation of the objective characteristic:
Cp=Tolerance/6*Standard deviation
The Cp of the of Japanese Sony TV sets is about 1. In addition,
the mean value of the distribution of these objective characteristics
is very close to the target value of m.
The process Cp of the San Diego Sony plant is calculated as
follows:
Cp=Tolerance/6(Tolerance/12) = 0.577

It is obvious that the process capability index of San Diego Sony is
much lower than that of Japanese Sony.
Tolerance specifications are very similar to tests in schools,
where 60% is usually the dividing line between passing and
failing, and 100% is ideal score.
the grades between 60% and 100% in evaluating quality can
be classified as follows:

60%-69% Passing (D)
70%-79% Fair (C)
80%-89% Good (B)
90%-100% Excellent (A)
We can apply this scheme to the classification of the objective
characteristics (color density) of these color TV sets as shown
in Figure. One can see that a very high percentage of Japanese
Sony TV sets are within grade B, and a very low percentage are
within or below grade D. In comparison, the color TV sets from
San Diego SONY have about the same percentage in grades A,
B and C.
To reduce the difference in process capability indices between
Japanese SONY and San Diego SONY, (and thus seemingly
increase the quality level of the San Diego sets) the letter
tried to tighten the tolerance specification to extend only to
grade C rather than grade D. Therefore, Only the products
within grades A,B and C were treated as passing.

But this approach is faulty, Tightening the tolerance
specifications because of a low process capability in a
production plant is meaningless as increasing the passing
score of school tests from 60% to 70% just because students
do not learn well. On the contrary, such a school should
consider asking the teachers to lower the passing score for
student who do not test as well instead of rating it.
Now we section will discuess how to evaluate the
functional quality of products meaningfully and
correctly.
Taguchis Quadratic Quality
Loss Function
Quality Loss Occurs when a products
deviates from target or nominal value.
Deviation Grows, then Loss increases.
Taguchis U-shaped loss Function Curve.
Taguchis U-shaped loss
Function Curve
Measured
characteristic
Taguchi loss Fn
LTL
Nominal
UTL
Scrap or Rework Cost.
Loss
Taguchis method: Loss function..
Loss = L(y) = L( m + (y-m))

= L(m) + (y-m) L(m)/ 1! + (y m)
2
L(m)/ 2! +
Taguchis Approximation: L(y) k( y m)
2

Ideally:
(a) L(m) = 0 [if actual size = target size, Loss = 0], and

(b) When y = m, the loss is at its minimum, therefore L'(m) = 0
Formula to find Taguchis Loss Fn
L (x) = k (x-N)
Where L (x) = Loss Function,
k = C/d = Constant of proportionality, where
C Loss associated with sp limit
d - Deviation of specification from target value
x = Quality Features of selected product,
N = Nominal Value of the product and
(x-N) = Tolerance
Taguchi uses Quadratic Equation to determine loss
Curve
In the case of the SONY colour TV sets, let the adjustment cost
be A= 300 Rs, when the colour density is out of the tolerance
specifications.
Therefore, the value of k can be calculated by the following
equation:
k = 300/5 = 12 Rs

Therefore, the loss function is L(y) = 12(y m)
This equation is still valid even when only one unit of product is
made.
The mean square deviation of objective characteristics from
their target values can be applied to estimate the mean value of
quality loss Equation. One can calculate the mean square
deviation from target ( in this equation is not variance) by
the following equation (the term is also called the mean
square error or the variation of products):
=mean value of (y-m)
So L(y) = k(y-m) becomes L = k
Quality level of Sony TV set
We can evaluate the differences of average quality levels
between the TV sets from Japanese Sony and those from San
Diego Sony.
it is clear that although the defective ratio of the Japanese
Sony is higher than that of the San Diego Sony, the quality
level of the former is 3 times higher than the latter.
Japan M 10/6 10/36 33.33 0.27%
San
Diego
M 10/12 10/12 100 0.00
Plant
Location
Mean
Value of
Objective
Function
Standard
Deviation
Variation Loss L
(in Rs)
Defective
Ratio
If Tighten the tolerance
Assume that one can tighten the tolerance specifications of
the TV sets of San Diego Sony to be m 10/3.
Also assume that these TV sets remain uniformly distributed
after the tolerance specifications are tightened. The average
quality level of San Diego Sony TV sets would be improved
to the following quality level:

L = 12[(1/ 12) (10) (2/3)] = 45Rs


Where the value of the loss function is considered the relative
quality level of the product. This average quality level of the TV
sets of San Diego Sony is 56Rs lower than the original quality
level but still 11Rs higher than that of Japanese Sony TV sets. In
addition, in this type of quality improvement, one must adjust
the products that are between the two tolerance limits,m 10/3
and m 5, to be within m 10/3. In the uniform distribution
shown in Figure, 33.3% would need adjustment, which would
cost 300Rs per unit. Therefore each TV set from San Diego Sony
would cost an additional 100Rs on average for the adjustment:
(300)(0.333) = 100Rs
Consequently, it is not really a good idea to spend 100Rs more
to adjust each product, which is worth only 56Rs.

A better way is to apply quality management methods to
improve the quality level of products.
Example of loss function
Suppose that the specification on a part is 0.500 0.020 cm.
A detailed analysis of product returns and repairs has
discovered that many failures occur when the actual dimension
is near the extreme of the tolerance range (that is, when the
dimensions are approximately 0.48 or 0.52) and costs $50 for
repair.
Thus, in Equation, the deviation from the target, x T , is 0.02
and L(x) = $50. Substituting these values, we have:
50 = k(0.02)2
or
k = 50/0.0004 = 125,000

Therefore, the loss function for a single part is L(x) = 125000(x
T)2.


This means when the deviation is 0.10, the firm can still
expect an average loss per unit of:

L(0.10) = 125,000(0.10)2 = $12.50 per part
Knowing the Taguchi loss function helps designers to
determine appropriate tolerances economically. For
example, suppose that a simple adjustment can be made at
the factory for only $2 to get this dimension very close to
the target.

If we set L(x) = $2 and solve for x T, we get:
2 = 125000(x T)2
x T = 0.004

Therefore, if the dimension is more than 0.004 away from
the target, it is more economical to adjust it at the factory
and the specifications should be set as 0.500 0.004.
Variation of the Quadratic
Loss Function
1) Nominal the best type:
Whenever the quality
characteristic y has a finite target
value, usually nonzero, and the
quality loss is symmetric on the
either side of the target, such
quality characteristic called
nominal-the-best type. This is
given by equation
L(y) =k(y-m)
Example: Color density of a television set and the out put
voltage of a power supply circuit.
2)Smaller-the-better type: Some characteristic, such as
radiation leakage from a microwave oven, can never take
negative values. Also, their ideal value is equal to zero, and
as their value increases, the performance becomes
progressively worse. Such characteristic are called smaller-
the-better type quality characteristics.
Examples: The response time of a computer, leakage current
in electronic circuits, and pollution from an automobile.
In this case m = 0
L(y) =ky
This is one side loss function because y cannot take
negative values.
3)Larger-the-better type: Some characteristics do not take
negative values. But, zero is there worst value, and as their
value becomes larger, the performance becomes progressively
better-that is, the quality loss becomes progressively smaller.
,, also Their ideal value is infinity and at that point the loss is
zero. Such characteristics are called larger-the-better type
characteristics.
Example: Such as the bond strength of adhesives.
Thus we approximate the loss function for a larger-the-better
type characteristic by substituting 1/y for y in
L(y) = k [1/y]
4)Asymmetric loss function: In certain situations,
deviation of the quality characteristic in one direction is much
more harmful than in the other direction. In such cases, one
can use a different coefficient k for the two directions. Thus,
the quality loss would be approximated by the following
asymmetric loss function:

k(y-m) ,y>m
L(y) = k(y-m) , ym

Introduction to Analysis of
variation(ANOVA)
What is ANOVA

ANOVA is a statistically based decision tool for detecting
any differences in average performance of groups of items
tested.

ANOVA is a mathematical technique which breaks total
variation down into accountable sources; total variation is
decomposed into its appropriate components.

Degrees of Freedom (dof)
Degree of freedom are the number of observations that can
be varied independently of each other.
Two Way ANOVA
There are two controlled parameters in this experimental situation

Let us consider an experimental situation. A student worked at an
aluminum casting foundry which manufactured pistons for
reciprocating engines.

The problem with the process was how to attain the proper
hardness (Rockwell B) of the casting for a particular product.

Engineers were interested in the effect of copper and magnesium
content on casting hardness.
According to specifications the copper content could be 3.5 to
4.5% and the magnesium content could be 1.2 to 1.8%.

Two Way ANOVA continue
The student runs an experiment to evaluate these factors and
conditions simultaneously.

If A = % Copper Content = 3.5 = 4.5
If B = % Magnesium Content = 1.2 = 1.8

The experimental conditions for a two level factors is given by
= 4 which are

Imagine, four different mixes of metal constituents are
prepared, casting poured and hardness measured. Two samples
are measured from each mix for hardness. The result will look
like:
76, 78 73, 74
77, 78 79, 80
2
A
1
B
2
B
1
A
1
A
2
A
1
B
2
B
Two Way ANOVA continue
To simplify discussion 70 points from each value are
subtracted in the above observations from each of the four
mixes. Transformed results can be shown as:
6, 8 3, 4
7, 8 9, 10
1
A
2
A
1
B
2
B
Two way ANOVA calculations:

1) The variation may be decomposed into more
components:
2) Variation due to factor A
3) Variation due to factor B
4) Variation due to interaction of factors A and B
5) Variation due to error
Two Way ANOVA continue
An equation for total variation can be written as
A x B represents the interaction of factor A and B. The
interaction is the mutual effect of Cu and Mg in affecting
hardness.
Some preliminary calculations will speed up ANOVA
Total
6, 8 3, 4 21
7, 8 9, 10 34
Total 29 26 55
1
A
2
A
1
B
2
B
Grand Total
4
1
=
A
n 4
1
=
B
n
4
2
=
A
n 4
2
=
B
n



=29 =26 =21 =34

T = 55, N = 8
1
A
2
A
1
B
2
B
Two Way ANOVA continue
Total Variation
N
T
y SS
N
i
i T
2
2
1
) ( =

=
8
55
2
= 6 + 8 + 3 + ----------- + 10 - = 40.85
N
T
n
A
SS
A
k
i
Ai
i
A
2
1
2

(
(

|
|
.
|

\
|
=

=
N
T
n
A
n
A
n
A
Ak
k
A A
2
2
2
2
2
1
2
1
+ + +
Variation due to factor A





A
SS
8
55
4
26
4
29
2 2 2
+ = 1.125 =
Mathematical check :
Numerator 29 + 26 = 55 and Denominator 4 + 4 = 8
Two Way ANOVA continue
For a two level experiment, when the sample sizes are equal,
the equation above can be simplified to this special formula:
( )
N
A A
SS
A
2
2 1

=
8
) 26 29 (
2

= = 1.125
Similarly the variation due to factor B
( )
125 . 21
8
) 34 21 (
2
2
2 1
=

=
N
B B
SS
B
To calculate the variation due to interaction of factors
A and B
Let represent the sum of data under the i
th

condition of the combination of factor A and B. Also let c
represent the number of possible combinations of the
interacting factors and the number of data under
this condition.
i
B A ) (
i
B A
n
) (
Two Way ANOVA continue
B A
c
i
i B A
i
B A
SS SS
N
T
n
B A
SS
(
(

|
|
.
|

\
|

=

=

2
1
) (
2
) (
Note that when the various combinations are summed,
squared, and divided by the number of data points for that
combination, the subsequent value also includes the factor
main effects which must be subtracted. While using this
formula, all lower order interactions and factor effects are to
be subtracted.
For the example problem:
= 14, = 15, = 7 = 19

And no. of possible combinations c = 4
And since there are two observations under each combination

= 2
1 1
B A
2 1
B A
1 2
B A
2 2
B A
i
B A
n
) (
Two Way ANOVA continue
B A B A
SS SS SS + + + =

8
55
2
19
2
15
2
7
2
14
2 2 2 2 2
= 15.125
e B A B A T
SS SS SS SS SS + + + =

Since
500 . 3 125 . 15 125 . 21 125 . 1 875 . 40 = =
e
SS
Degrees of Freedom (Dof) Two way ANOVA
e B A B A t
v v v v v + + + =

= N 1 = 8 1 = 7
t
v
A
v
A
k
- 1 = 1
=
B
v
B
k
- 1 = 1
=
1 ) )( ( = =
B A B A
v v v
4 1 1 1 7 = =
e
v
Two Way ANOVA continue
ANOVA summary Table (Two-way)
Source SS Dof v Variance V F
A 1.125 1 1.125 1.29
B 21.125 1 21.125 24.14*
A x B 15.125 1 15.125 17.29**
E 3.500 4 0.875
Total 40.875 7
* at 95% confidence
** at 90% confidence

The ANOVA results indicate that Cu by itself has no effect on the
resultant hardness, magnesium has a large effect (largest SS) on
hardness and the interaction of Cu and Mg plays a substantial
part in determining hardness.
Two Way ANOVA continue
Geometrically, there is some information available from the
graph that may be useful. The relative magnitudes of the
various effects can be seen graphically. The B effect is the
largest, A x B effect next largest and the A effect is very
small.

See
1 . 7
4
29
1
= = A
5 . 6
4
26
2
= = A
2 . 5
4
21
1
= = B
5 . 8
4
34
2
= = B
Two Way ANOVA continue
Hard-
ness
2
4
6
8
10
B1
B2
B effect
A x B effect
A effect
A2 A1
Mid pt.
A2B1 &
A2B2
Mid pt. on
line B1
Introduction To Orthogonal Array
Engineers and Scientists are often faced with two
product or process improvement situations.
1st development situation is to find a parameter
that will improve some performance characteristic to
an acceptable and optimum value. This is the most
typical situation in most organizations.
2
nd
situation is to find a less expensive, alternate
design, material, or method which will provide
equivalent performance
Orthogonal Array
WHAT IS ARRAY
An Arrays name indicates the number of rows
and column it has , and also the number of levels
in each of the column. Thus the array L4 has four
rows and three 2-level column.
WHAT IS ORTHOGONALITY
One main requirement of orthogonality is a
balanced experiment which means equal number
of samples under various test conditions.
History of Orthogonal Array
F1 F2 F3 F4
I1

I2

I3

I4

F1

F2

F3

F4

I1

A1

A2

A3

A4

I2

A2

A3

A4

A1

I3

A3

A4

A1

A2

I4

A4

A1

A2

A3


Most common test plan is to evaluate the effect of
one parameter on product performance. This is what
is typically called as one factor experiment.

This experiment evaluates the effect of one
parameter while holding everything else constant.
The simplest case of testing the effect of one
parameter on performance would be to run a test at
two different conditions of that parameter.


Trial No Factor Level Test Results
1 1(LOW) *
2 2(HIGH) *




Several Factors One at a
Time(OFAT)
Speed Feed Depth Material Test
Results
Trial No. A B C D
1 1 1 1 1 *
2 2 1 1 1 *
3 1 2 1 1 *
4 1 1 2 1 *
5 1 1 1 2 *
1-LOW LEVEL
2-HIGH LEVEL
OFAT
Isolate what is believed to be the most
important factor
Investigate this factor by itself, ignoring
all others
Make recommendations on changes to
this crucial factor
Move on to the next factor and repeat
Example
A process producing steel springs is generating considerable scrap
due to cracking after heat treatment. A study is planned to
determine better operating conditions to reduce the cracking
problem.

There are several ways to measure cracking
Size of the crack
Presence or absence of cracks

The response selected was
Y: the percentage without cracks in a batch of 100 springs

Three major factors were believed to affect the response
T: Steel temperature before quenching
C: carbon content (percent)
O: Oil quenching temperature

Investigating Many factor

Factor Low (Level1) High(Level2)
T 1450 degree 1600 degree
C 0.5% 0.7%
O 70 degree 120 degree
Traditional Approach
Steel
Tempt
%age of spring without crack
Average
1450 61 67 66 68 65.5
1600 79 75 71 77 75.5

Carrying out similar OFAT experiments for C
and O would require a total of 24 observations
and provide limited knowledge.
Conclusion: Increased T reduces cracks by
10%

Four runs at each level of T with C and O at their low levels

Factorial Approach
Run C T O
1 0.5 1450 70
2 0.7 1450 70
3 0.5 1600 70
4 0.7 1600 70
5 0.5 1450 120
6 0.7 1450 120
7 0.5 1600 120
8 0.7 1600 120
Include all factors in a balanced design:
To increase the generality of the conclusions,
use a design that involves all eight
combinations of the three factors.
The above eight runs constitute a FULL
FACTORIAL DESIGN. The design is balanced
for every factor. This means 4 runs have T at
1450 and 4 have T at 1600. Same is true for C
and O.
Advantages Of Factorial approach
over OFAT
The effect of each factor can be assessed by
comparing the responses from the appropriate sets
of four runs.
More general conclusions
8 runs rather than 24 runs
Efficient Test Strategy
Factor Level 1 Level 2
Front cover design Production New
Gasket Design Production New
Front bolt torque Low High
Gasket Coating Yes No
Pump Housing Finish Rough Smooth
Rear bolt torque Low High
Torque pattern Front rear Rear front
A Full Factorial Experiment
A1 A2
B1 B2 B1 B2
C1 C2 C1 C2 C1 C2 C1 C2
D1 D2 D1 D2 D1 D2 D1 D2 D1 D2 D1 D2 D1 D2 D1 D2
E1
F1
G1
G2
F2
G1
G2
E2
F1
G1
G2
F2
G1
G2
If a full factorial is to be used in this situation will have to
be conducted. (As shown in figure below)

Trial
No.
Column No.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
2 1 1 1 2 2 2 2
3 1 2 2 1 1 2 2
4 1 2 2 2 2 1 1
5 2 1 2 1 2 1 2
6 2 1 2 2 1 2 1
7 2 2 1 1 2 2 1
8 2 2 1 2 1 1 2
This is 1/16
th
FFE which has only 8 of the possible 128 combinations represented
Example Of Orthogonal Array
During the late 1980s, Modi Xerox had a
large base of customers (50 thousand) for
this model spread over the entire country.
Many buyers of these machines earn their
livelihood by running copying services. Each
of these buyers ultimately serves a very
large number of customers (end user).
When copy quality is either poor or
inconsistent, customers earn a bad name
and their image and business gets affected.
A Case Study Of Orthogonal Array
The pattern of blurred images (skips) observed in the copy is
shown in Figure above. It usually occurs between 10-60 mm
from the lead edge of the paper. Sometimes, on a photocopy
taken on a company letterhead paper, the company logo gets
blurred, which is not appreciated by the customer. This
problem was noticed in only one-third of the machines
produced by the company, with the remaining two-thirds of
machines in the field working well without this problem. The
in-house test evaluation record also confirmed the problem in
only about 15% of the machines produced. Data analysis
indicated that not all the machines produced were faulty.
Therefore, the focus of further investigation was to find out
what went wrong in the faulty machines or whether there are
basic differences between the components used in good and
faulty machines.

Selection of Factor and
Intersection To Evaluate
A copier machine consists of more than 1000 components and
assemblies. A brainstorming session by the team helped in the
identification of 16 components suspected to be responsible for the
problem of blurred images. Each Suspected component had at least
two possible dimensional characters which could have resulted in the
skip symptom. This led to more than 40 probable causes (40
dimensions arising out of 16 components) for the problem. An
attempt was made by the team to identify the real causes among
these 40 probable causes. Ten bad machines were stripped open
and various dimensions of these 16 component were measured. It
was observed that all the dimensions were well within specifications
Hence, this investigation did not give any clues to the problem.
Moreover, the time and effort spent in dismantling the faulty
machines and checking various dimensions in 16 components was in
vain. This gave rise to the thought that conforming to specification
does nor always lead to perfect quality. The team needed to think
beyond the specification in order to find a solution to the problem

Selection of No. of factor
An earlier brainstorming session had identified 16 components that
were likely to be the cause of this problem. A study of travel
documents of 300 problem machines revealed that on 88% of
occasions, the problem was solved by replacing one or more of only
four parts of the machine. These four parts were from the list of 16
parts identified earlier. They were considered to be Critical and it was
decided to conduct an experiment on these four parts. These parts
were the following:
(a) Drum shaft
(b) Drum gear
(c) Drum flange
(d) Feed shaft
Two sets of these parts Were taken for Experiment I, one from an
identified problem machine and one from a problem free machine.
The two levels considered in the experiment were good and bad;
good signifying parts from the problem-free machine and bad
signifying parts from the problem machine. The factors and levels
thus identified are given in Table below.
Selection of no. of factor and level
Selection of appropriate
Orthogonal Array
Assignment of
Factor/Interaction to Columns
Analysis and Results



Online quality control
Off- line quality control

Types of Quality Control
ROBUST DESIGNING

What is Robustness

Robustness means small variation in
performance.
All products look good when they are
precisely made.
Robust products work well .
Only robust products provide consistent
customer satisfaction .
Example of Robustness


Suppose two shooter X and Y go to the target range, and each shoots
an initial round of 10 shots. X has his shots in a tight cluster, which lies
outside the bulls-eye, but Y actually has one shot in the bulls-eye, but his
success results only from his hit-or-miss pattern.






X Y
In this initial round Y has one By more bulls-eye than X , but X is the
robust shooter. a simple adjustment of his sights, X will move his tight
cluster into the bulls-eye for the next round. Y faces a much more difficult
task. He must improve his control altogether, systematically optimizing his
arm position, the tension of his spring, and other critical parameters.

Why we use Robust Design
Every customer wants a product with high quality and a
minimum cost, this is achieved by robust designing. There are
mainly four types of cost which is under the category of obvious
quality costs.

Internal quality cost
External quality cost
Appraisal quality cost
Prevention cost

These obvious quality cost are incurred directly by the producer
and then passed on to the customer through the purchase price
of the product. Robust Design is a symmetric method for
keeping the producers cost low while delivering a high quality
product. This is done by ROBUSTNESS STRATEGY.

Tools for robustness strategy

Signal to Noise Ratio
P- Diagram
Quadratic loss function
Orthogonal Array
Signal to Noise Ratio (S/N)
Signal to noise ratio used for predicting
the field quality.

S/N= amt. of energy for intended function
amt. of energy wasted
Example of Signal to Noise ratio
When a person puts his foot on the brake pedal
of the car, energy is transformed with the intent
to slow car, which is the signal.
However some of the energy is wasted by pad
wear, squeal, heat etc. these are called noise.
Energy
transformation
Slow car
wear
squeal
heat
Etc.
Signal
Noise
Brake

Signal factors are set by the
designer/ operator to obtain the
intended value of the response/ output
variable.
Noise factors are not controlled by
the designer/ operator or very difficult
and expensive to control.

Purpose of noise factors:
To make the product /process robust
against Noise Factors(NF)



Types of Noise Factors
Internal Noise External Noise
Internal Noise: These are mainly due to deterioration such as product wear,
very old material, changes in components or material with time or use.
External Noise: These are due to variation in environmental conditions such as
dust, temperature, humidity etc.
Types of Signal to Noise
ratio(S/N)

Smaller the Better Larger the Better Nominal the Best
Signal to Noise Ratio
Smaller-the Better(S/Ns)
The S/Ns ratio for Smaller the Better is used where the
smaller value is desired. In this the target value is zero.

Larger-the Better(S/NL)
The S/NL ratio for Larger the Better is used where the
largest value is desired. In this the target value is also
zero.

Nominal the- Best(S/NN)
The S/NN ratio for Nominal the better is used where the
Nominal or Target value and variation about that value is
minimum.
Here target value is finite not zero.

P- Diagram
P- Diagram is a permanent diagram for
product/ process. It is must for every
development project.
P-Diagram defines clearly and deeply the
scope of development.
In P-Diagram, first we identify the signal (Input) and response
(output) associated with design concept for Robust Design.

For example: In designing the cooling system for a room the
thermostat setting is the signal and the resulting room
temperature is the response.
Next consider the parameters/factors that are beyond the
control of the designer. Those factors are called noise factors.
Outside temperature, opening/closing of windows, and number
of occupants are examples of noise factors. Parameters that
can be specified by the designer are called control factors. The
numbers of registers, their locations, size of the air conditioning
unit, insulation are examples of control factors.
Ideally, the resulting room temperature should be equal to the
set point temperature. Thus the ideal function here is a straight
line of slope one in the signal-response graph. This relationship
must hold for all operating conditions. However, the noise
factors cause the relationship to deviate from the ideal.
The job of the designer is to select appropriate control factors
and their settings so that the deviation from the ideal is
minimum at a low cost. Such a design is called a minimum
sensitivity design or a Robust Design.