Many industrial processes in chemistry and engineering are not optimized or suffer from seemingly random variation.

Researchers have found it difficult to make necessary improvements due to the number of tests required. Experimental design offers a method of getting the maximum information from the minimum number of tests. In addition, valuable information can be gained on interactions between variables interactions are often very important, and may be missed when investigations are carried out changing one variable at a time.

The Taguchi method includes a set of tables that enable main variables and interactions to be investigated in a minimum number of trials. The Taguchi technique places a great deal of importance on the reduction in variability of products and processes; in other words to make products and processes more robust and less susceptible to changes due to outside influences such as raw material variation, temperature, and changes to machines and operators. Improved robustness can often be achieved without major capital expenditure through the use of these techniques.

The Taguchi approach to quality engineering places a great deal of emphasis on minimizing variation as the main means of improving quality. The idea is to design products and processes whose performance is not affected by outside conditions and to build this in during the development and design stage through the use of experimental design. The method includes a set of tables that enable main variables and interactions to be investigated in a minimum number of trials. Though the concept is reasonably straightforward, choosing the most appropriate table and interpreting the results can be more difficult. There is the danger in using Taguchi of drawing the wrong conclusion. Therefore it is always advisable to check any results from a Taguchi matrix; for instance, if the result indicates some strong effects, it is best to check these in a full matrix or one off runs using onevariable-at-a-time method.

A process that does not change with changing noise is described as being robust. For instance, you may have a process making a product (for example, plastic door handles), but despite your best efforts the product quality varies wildly. You would typically concentrate on those variables you are able to control (raw material quality, machine settings such as temperature and time in mould) to try to make a better product. However, the product quality varies due to the variables you are not able to control, such as ambient temperature, humidity, and differences due to changes in operators from one shift to another. These variables are known as noise. Rather than tightening up on the process variables, it is often better to try to adjust the level of these variables to reduce the effect of noise. This way you end up with a product or process that is not only high in quality, but gives you consistently high quality. For example, in the case of our plastic door handles, there may be a combination of the formulation, machine setting, and speed of moulding that gives a process that gives consistently good product regardless of the ambient temperature and humidity. To do this you need to identify which factors have an effect on the variability of the process. This is done by looking at signal/noise in a robust design.

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Define the process objective, or more specifically, a target value for a performance measure of the process. This may be a flow rate, temperature, etc. The target of a process may also be a minimum or maximum; for example, the goal may be to maximize the output flow rate. The deviation in the performance characteristic from the target value is used to define the loss function for the process. Determine the design parameters affecting the process. Parameters are variables within the process that affect the performance measure such as temperatures, pressures, etc. that can be easily controlled. The number of levels that the parameters should be varied at must be specified. For example, a temperature might

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Create orthogonal arrays for the parameter design indicating the number of and conditions for each experiment. Conduct the experiments indicated in the completed array to collect data on the effect on the performance measure. Complete data analysis to determine the effect of the different parameters on the performance measure.

The effect of many different parameters on the performance characteristic in a condensed set of experiments can be examined by using the orthogonal array experimental design proposed by Taguchi. Once the parameters affecting a process that can be controlled have been determined, the levels at which these parameters should be varied must be determined. Knowing the number of parameters and the number of levels, the proper orthogonal array can be selected.

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L8 ARRAY

Once the experimental design has been determined and the trials have been carried out, the measured performance characteristic from each trial can be used to analyze the relative effect of the different parameters. In this array, it can be seen that any number of repeated observations (trials) may be used. Ti,j represents the different trials with i = experiment number and j = trial number.

After calculating the SN ratio for each experiment, the average SN value is calculated for each factor and level. This is done as shown below for Parameter 3 (P3) in the array:

Once these SN ratio values are calculated for each factor and level, they are tabulated as shown below and the range R (R = high SN low SN)of the SN for each parameter is calculated and entered into the table. The larger the R value for a parameter, the larger the effect the variable has on the process. This is because the same change in signal causes a larger effect on the output variable being measured.

An advantage of the Taguchi method is that it emphasizes a mean performance characteristic value close to the target value rather than a value within certain specification limits, thus improving the product quality. Additionally, Taguchi's method for experimental design is straightforward and easy to apply to many engineering situations, making it a powerful yet simple tool.

The main disadvantage of the Taguchi method is that the results obtained are only relative and do not exactly indicate what parameter has the highest effect on the performance characteristic value. The Taguchi method has been criticized in the literature for difficulty in accounting for interactions between parameters.

Procurement is the acquisition of goods or services. It is favorable that the goods/services are appropriate and that they are procured at the best possible cost to meet the needs of the purchaser in terms of quality and quantity, time, and location.