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Taguchi Reliability

1. The document discusses Taguchi loss functions and their use in quantifying economic losses due to quality issues. It provides examples of calculating loss values based on part specifications and failure costs. 2. Reliability calculations for series and parallel systems are demonstrated using examples of manufacturing processes and service operations. Individual component reliabilities are used to determine overall system reliability. 3. Adding redundancy like an extra checker clerk is shown to significantly improve the reliability of a mortgage approval process from the original 71.5% to 97.5% by catching more errors. Further training to boost individual clerk reliability could increase the overall reliability even more.

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2K views4 pages

Taguchi Reliability

1. The document discusses Taguchi loss functions and their use in quantifying economic losses due to quality issues. It provides examples of calculating loss values based on part specifications and failure costs. 2. Reliability calculations for series and parallel systems are demonstrated using examples of manufacturing processes and service operations. Individual component reliabilities are used to determine overall system reliability. 3. Adding redundancy like an extra checker clerk is shown to significantly improve the reliability of a mortgage approval process from the original 71.5% to 97.5% by catching more errors. Further training to boost individual clerk reliability could increase the overall reliability even more.

Uploaded by

geyb away
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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1. Suppose that the specification for a part (in inches) are 6.00 ± 0.

02, and the Taguchi loss


function for some part is estimated to be L(x) = 6,800 (x – T)2. Determine the economic loss
if x = 6.05 inches.

The Taguchi Loss Function is:


L(x) = k(x – T)2 = 6,800(6.05 – 6.00)2 = 6,800 (0.05) 2 = $17 per part

6.05 is also beyond the specification of 6.02 so we expect the Taguchi economic loss to be
high per part. For say 1,000 parts the L(x) = $17,000. If you know any 3 of the 4 Taguchi
model variables, you can solve for the fourth.

2. A quality characteristic has a specification (in inches) of 0.200  0.020. If the value of the
quality characteristic exceeds 0.200 by the tolerance of 0.020 on either side, the product
will require a repair of $150. Develop the appropriate Taguchi loss function.

The Taguchi Loss Function is L(x) = k(x – T)2

150 = k(0.02)2 or k = 375,000

3. Vehicle transmission repairs for part number TAC45123 are costly to replace. A highly
skilled mechanic must disassemble the tranmission. If the part fails while it is in warranty,
the manufactuerer pays the full cost of the repair to the garage or dealer that did the
repair. The manufacturer uses the Taguchi loss function to set specification for the part
with k = 40,000. The dimensions for the part are 1.0 ± 0.10 centimeters.

(a) What is the economic value of one failed part?

L(x) = k(x – T)2


L(x) = 40,000(0.1)2
$400 = 40,000(0.01)
The economic loss of one failed part is $400.

(b) If the manufacturer of the part paid the full warranty cost on 1,862 failures last year
worldwide, what is the total econonmic cost of failure?

Total cost of failure = 1,862 failures x $400 per failure = $744,800

(c) If the manufacturer improved process and equipment capability so the part
specfications changed to 1.0 ± 0.05 centimeters, what is the econonmic cost of one
failure?

L(x) = k(x – T)2


L(x) = 40,000(0.05)2
$100 = 40,000(0.0025) * The economic loss of one failed part is $100

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(d) Assuming failures were reduced by one half to 931 due to the more precise
specifications, what is the economic cost of failure?

Total cost of failure = 931 failures*$100 per failure = $93,100

(e) How much warranty cost is saved according to Taguchi esitmates by improving
specifications from ± 0.10 to ± 0.05?

Total savings = $744,800 - $93,100 = $651,700

RELIABILITY
4. The manufacturing of compact disks requires four sequential steps. The reliability of each
of the steps is 0.96, 0.87, 0.92, and 0.89 respectively. What is the reliability of the
process?

Using Series System Reliability:


RaRbRcRd = (0.96)(0.87)(0.92)(0.89) = 0.6839

5. The service center for a brokerage company provides three functions to callers: account
status, order confirmations, and stock quotes. The reliability was measured for each of
these services over one month with these results: 90%, 80% and 96% respectively. What
is the overall reliability of the call center?

Using Series System Reliability:


RaRbRc = (0.90)(0.80)(0.96) = 0.69129

6. The system reliability for a two-component parallel system is 0.99968. If the reliability of
the first component is 0.992, determine the reliability of the second component.

Using Parallel System Reliability:


0.99968 = 1 – (1 – 0.992)(1 – P2)
0.99968 = 1 – (0.008)(1 – P2)
0.99968 = 1 – (0.008 – 0.008P2)
0.99968 = 1 – 0.008 + 0.008P2
-0.008P2= 1 – 0.008 - 0.99968
-0.008P2= -0.007768
P2 = 0.96

7. The system reliability for a three-component series system is 0.893952. If the reliability of
the first and third components is 0.96 and 0.97 respectively, determine the reliability of the
second component.

2
Using Series System Reliability:
0.893952 = (0.96)(p2)(0.97)
p2 = 0.96

8. Two cooling fans are installed in some laptop computers. Suppose the reliability of each
cooling fan is 0.98. What percent improvement in reliability does adding the second fan
provide?

Because this is a parallel system, reliability = 1 – (1 – 0.98)(1 – 0.98) = 1 – (0.02)(0.02) = 1 -


0.0004 = 0.9996. Percent improvement is 1 – 0.9996/0.98 = 2%. So is it worth the extra
cost and space to add a second fan? Probably not.

9. Given the following diagram, determine the total system reliability if the individual
component reliabilities are: A = 0.94, B = 0.82, and C = 0.87. (Hint: Use Series System
Reliability and Parallel System Reliability and note that the reliabilities of the parallel
components are different.)

First find the reliability of the parallel subsystem BC: Reliability = 1 – (1 – 0.82)(1 – 0.87) =
1 – (0.18)(0.13) = 1 – 0.0234 = 0.9766. This is the composite reliability of collapsing B and C
into one part.

Now find the series reliability of A and the BC composite subsystem:


Reliability = (0.94)(0.9766) = 0.918.

10. A mortgage loan approval process consists of three steps in series performed by clerks A,
B, and C. Errors are often made, and a study found that clerks A and B had an average
reliability of only 0.85, which results in the paperwork having errors, missing information,
and so on. Clerk C who performs the final review catches nearly all mistakes and has a
reliability of 0.99, but the work involved is causing a considerable backlog. After studying
3
the process, the loan manager decided to add an additional clerk D with more experience
to each of the first two steps to check the work, having a reliability of 0.95 as shown in the
diagram below.

a. How much does adding this redundancy improve the reliability of the original process?
b. If, in addition to adding clerks D, the reliability of clerks A and B can be improved to 0.95
through better training, how much can the reliability be improved?

(a) Original process:

RARBRC = (0.85)(0.85)(0.99) = 0.715

New process:

Using Equation Parallel System Reliability:

RAD or RBD = 1 – (1 – 0.85)(1 – 0.95) = 0.9925

RADRBDRC = (0.9925)(0.9925)(0.99) = 0.9752

The reliability of this proves increased greatly due to the process improvement initiative.

Better hiring and/or training might be worth investing in to increase clerk reliability to 0.95.
Total system reliability increases from the original 0.715 to 0.9752. Wow! Of course, three
clerks were employed in the old system but five are needed in the new system.

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