7/13/2009 ROBUST PRODUCT DESIGN THRO…

Paper describes the

concept of achieving ROBUST PRODUCT DESIGN THROUGH
robust product designs
with design of
DESIGN OF EXPERIMENTS
experiments (DOE).

Kenneth Crow
DRM Associates

© 1998 DRM Associates All rights reserved. May be printed for reading, reference & distribution with
attribution. Other use prohibited.

Product
Development
Forum
Robust Design
NPD Body of
Know ledge A robust product is one that works as intended regardless of variation in a product's
manufacturing process, variation resulting from deterioration, and variation in use.
Robust design can be achieved when the designer understands these potential
Variability
sources of variation and takes steps to desensitize the rpoduct to these potential
Reduction
sources of variation. Robust design can be achieved through "brute force"
techniques of added design margin or tighter tolerances or through "intelligent
Process design" by understanding which product and process design parameters are critical
Capability & to the achievement of a performance characteristic and what are the optimum values
Product Design
to both achieve the performance characteristic and minimize variation.
Reducing
Variation During When the operation of the product or achievement of a performance characteristic
Design can be mathmatically related to a product or process design parameter, optimum
product and process design parameters can be calculated. When these
relationships are unknown, design of experiments (DOE) can aid in determining
Quantifying
Variability Paper
these optimum parameter values and, thereby, developing a more robust design.

Robust Tolerance Design of Experiments

Analysis
Workshop
Design of Experiments is based on the objective of desensitizing a product's
Design of performance characteristic(s) to variation in critical product and process design
Experiments parameters. Genichi Taguchi developed the concept of "loss to society". In this
Workshop
concept, variability in critical design parameters will increase the loss to society
which is an expanded view of the traditional, internally-oriented cost of quality. This
DRM Associates is a quadratic relationship of increasing costs (loss to society) as these critical
design parameter values vary from the desired mean value of the parameter.

To consider quality implications during design, the design process can be

segmented into three stages. The first stage, system design, establishes the
functionality of the product, the physical product envelope, and general
specifications. The second stage, parameter design, establishes specific values for
design parameters related to physical and functional specifications. It is during
these first two stages that the designer has the greatest opportunity to reduce
product costs through effective functional design and parameter specification. The
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third stage, tolerance design, establishes the acceptable tolerances around each
parameter or target. The third stage typically will add costs to the product through
efforts to ensure compliance with the tolerances associated with product
parameters.

Since an organization cannot cost-effectively inspect quality into the product, it must
focus on minimizing variability in the product through product and process design
and control of processes. However, some variability is uncontrollable or very difficult
to control. This difficult to control variation is referred to as noise. Noise is the result
of variation in materials, processes, the environment and the product's use or
misuse. Products need to be designed so that they are robust - their performance is
insensitive to this naturally occurring, difficult to control variation.

Design of Experiments techniques provide an approach to efficiently designing

industrial experiments which will improve the understanding of the relationship
between product and process parameters and the desired performance
characteristic. This efficient design of experiments is based on a fractional factorial
experiment which allows an experiment to be conducted with only a fraction of all
the possible experimental combinations of parameter values. Orthogonal arrays are
used to aid in the design of an experiment. The orthogonal array will specify the test
cases to conduct the experiment. Frequently, two orthogonal arrays are used: a
design factor matrix and a noise factor matrix, the latter used to conduct the
experiment is the presence of difficult to control variation so as to develop a robust
design. This approach to designing and conducting an experiment to determine the
effect of design factors (parameters) and noise factors on a performance
characteristic is represented below.

These experimental results can be summarized into a metric called the signal to
noise ratio which jointly considers how effectively the mean value (signal) of the
parameter has been achieved and the amount of variability that has been
experienced. As a result, a designer can identify the parameters that will have the

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greatest effect on the achievement of a product's performance characteristic.

The design parameters or factors of concern are identified in an inner array or design
factor matrix which specifies the factor level or design parameter test cases. The
outer array or noise factor matrix specifies the noise factor or the range of variation
the product will be exposed to in the manufacturing process, the environment or how
the product used (conditions it is exposed to). This experimental set-up allows the
identification of the design parameter values or factor levels that will produce the
best performing, most reliable, or most satisfactory product over the expected range
of noise factors or environmental conditions.

After the experiments are conducted and the signal to noise ratio determined for
each design factor test case, a mean signal to noise ratio value is calculated for
each design factor level or value. This data is statistically analyzed using analysis of
variation (ANOVA) techniques. Very simply, a design factor with a large difference in
the signal noise ratio from one factor setting to another indicates that the factor or
design parameter is a significant contributor to the achievement of the performance
characteristic. When there is little difference in the signal to noise ratio from one
factor setting to another, this indicates that the factor is insignificant with respect to
the performance characteristic.

With the resulting understanding from the experiments and subsequent analysis, the
designer can:

Identify parameter values which maximize achievement of

performance characteristic and minimize the effect of noise, thereby
achieving a more robust design.
Identify parameters that have no significant effect on performance. In
these cases, tolerances can be relaxed and cost reduced.
Identify parameter values which reduce cost without affecting
performance or variation.

These steps take initial effort, but can reduce cost and improve the performance of
the product. In the past, the designer selected design parameters and tolerances
and made system design trade-offs in an intuitive manner, sometimes supported by
limited analysis and trial and error experimentation. However, an overall framework
was lacking to make these decisions. Design of Experiments techniques offer a
framework for developing a more rigorous understanding of the relationship between
product and process parameters and the achievement of a performance, reliability or
quality characteristic, thereby leading to improved design decisions. These
techniques present a comprehensive approach experimental design, analysis, and
product and process design decision-making.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kenneth A. Crow is President of DRM Associates, a management consulting and

education firm focusing on integrated product development practices. He is a
distinguished speaker and recognized expert in the field of integrated product
development. He has over twenty years of experience consulting with major
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companies internationally in aerospace, capital equipment, defense, high
technology, medical equipment, and transportation industries. He has provided
guidance to executive management in formulating a integrated product development
program and reengineering the development process as well as assisted product
development teams applying IPD to specific development projects.

He has written papers, contributed to books, and given many presentations and
seminars for professional associations, conferences, and manufacturing clients on
integrated product development, design for manufacturability, design to cost, product
development teams, QFD, and team building. Among many professional affiliations,
he is past President and currently on the Board of the Society of Concurrent
Engineering and is a member of the Product Development Management Association
and the Engineering Management Society. For further information, contact the
author at DRM Associates, 2613 Via Olivera, Palos Verdes, CA 90274, telephone
(310) 377-5569, fax (310) 377-1315, or email at kcrow@aol.com.

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