Analysis and Interpretation of Data from Taguchi Experiments

Abstract

The statistical analysis and interpretation of data obtained from Taguchi experiments is critical for taking necessary actions and the implementation of these improvement actions for product and process quality improvement. This chapter has been written with the aim of assisting industrial engineers and managers with limited knowledge of mathematics and statistics in analysing and interpreting the data from Taguchi’s orthogonal array experiments for process optimization problems. The authors have cut down on the unnecessary equations that tend to confuse managers and engineers with limited mathematical skills. Moreover, they have also tried to include the most essential equations, which are unavoidable, and have presented the results in a graphical manner for easy and rapid understanding. Numerous computer software systems on Taguchi methods are available to enable engineers to analyse their data. The fundamental problem with these software packages is that they provide a black box approach to engineers in statistics. They provide very little support to the interpretation of results obtained from the analysis. As a consequence of this, many industrial engineers would not know what to do next with the results without the help of statisticians. The overall aim of this chapter is to provide adequate guidance and support for engineers with inadequate statistical skills in analysing and interpreting the results from two-level orthogonal array experiments. In order to meet the above objective, the chapter presents a systematic and organized approach for the analysis and interpretation of results.