Skip to main content

Off-Line Quality Control, Parameter Design, and the Taguchi Method

  • Chapter

Abstract

A Japanese ceramic tile manufacturer knew in 1953 that is more costly to control causes of manufacturing variations than to make a process insensitive to these variations. The Ina Tile Company knew that an uneven temperature distribution in the kiln caused variation in the size of the tiles. Since uneven temperature distribution was an assignable cause of variation, a process quality control approach would have increased manufacturing cost. The company wanted to reduce the size variation without increasing cost. Therefore, instead of controlling temperature distribution they tried to find a tile formulation that reduced the effect of uneven temperature distribution on the uniformity of tiles. Through a designed experiment, the Ina Tile Company found a cost-effective method for reducing tile size variation caused by uneven temperature distribution in the kiln. The company found that increasing the content of lime in the tile formulation from 1% to 5% reduced the tile size variation by a factor of ten. This discovery was a breakthrough for the ceramic tile industry.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. ASQC (1983). Glossary and Tables for Statistical Quality Control Milwaukee, Wis.: American Society for Quality Control.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Juran, J. M. 1979. Quality Control Handbook. 3d ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Taguchi, G. 1978. “Off-Line and On-line Quality Control Systems.” Proceedings of International Conference on Quality Control. Tokyo, Japan.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Kackar, R. N., and M. S. Phadke. n.d. An Introduction to Off-line and On-line Quality Control Methods. Unpublished work.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Hoadley, B. 1981. “The Quality Measurement Plan (QMP).” The Bell System Technical Journal 60:215–273.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Taguchi, G., and Y. Wu. 1980. Introduction to Off-line Quality Control Tokyo, Japan: Central Japan Quality Control Association. Available from American Supplier Institute, 32100 Detroit Industrial Expressway, Romulus, Michigan 48174.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Taguchi, G. 1976, 1977. Experimental Designs. 3d ed. 2 vols. Tokyo: Maruzen Publishing Company. (Japanese)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Bartlett, M. S. 1937. “Properties of Sufficiency and Statistical Tests.” Proceedings of the Royal Society, London, Series A 160:268–282.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Rao, C. R. 1947. “Factorial Experiments Derivable from Combinatorial Arrangements of Arrays.” Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Supplement 9:128–139.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Raghavarao, D. 1971. Constructions and Combinatorial Problems in Design of Experiments. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Kackar, R. N. 1982. Some Orthogonal Arrays for Screening Designs. AT&T Bell Laboratories Technical Memorandum. Unpublished work.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Hunter, J. S. 1985. “Statistical Design Applied to Product Design.” Journal of Quality Technology 17:210–221.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Box, G. E. P., W. G. Hunter, and J. S. Hunter. 1978. Statistics for Experimenters. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Brayton, R. K., S. W. Director, and G. D. Hachtel. 1980. “Yield Maximization and Worst-Case Design with Arbitrary Statistical Distributions.” IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems CAS-27:756–764.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Singhal, K., and J. F. Pinel. 1981. “Statistical Design Centering and Tolerancing Using Parametric Sampling.” IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems CAS-28:692–702.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Scheffe, H. 1959. Analysis of Variance. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Tippett L. C. H. 1934. Applications of Statistical Methods to the Control of Quality in Industrial Production. England: Manchester Statistical Society.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Davies, O. L. 1978. The Design and Analysis of Industrial Experiments. New York: Longman, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Daniel, C. 1976. Applications of Statistics to Industrial Experimentation. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  20. Lin, K. M., and R. N. Kackar. 1985. “Wave Soldering Process Optimization by Orthogonal Array Design Method.” Electronic Packaging and Production.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Pao, T. W., M. S. Phadke, and C. S. Sherrerd. 1985. “Computer Response Time Optimization Using Orthogonal Array Experiments.” Proceedings of ICC. IEEE Communications Society.

    Google Scholar 

  22. Phadke, M. S., R. N. Kackar, D. V. Speeney, and M. J. Grieco. 1983. “Off-Line Quality Control for Integrated Circuit Fabrication Using Experimental Design.” The Bell System Technical Journal 62:1273–1309.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Prasad, C. R. 1982. Statistical Quality Control and Operational Research: 160 Case Studies in Indian Industries. Calcutta, India: Indian Statistical Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Shewhart, W. A. 1931. Economic Control of Quality of a Manufactured Product. New York, N.Y.: D. Van Nostrand Company. 1981. Reprint. American Society for Quality Control.

    Google Scholar 

  25. Ishikawa, K. 1984. “Quality and Standardization: Progress for Economic Success.” Quality Progress 1:16–20.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1989 AT&T

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Kackar, R.N. (1989). Off-Line Quality Control, Parameter Design, and the Taguchi Method. In: Dehnad, K. (eds) Quality Control, Robust Design, and the Taguchi Method. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-1472-1_4

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-1472-1_4

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4684-1474-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4684-1472-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics