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January 2002

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From:
"Crepeau, Phil" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
TechNet E-Mail Forum.
Date:
Tue, 8 Jan 2002 09:59:16 -0800
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hi,

i hope toyota isn't listening to this.  they never end their search for 'quality', and that's why i'll never buy another brand.

phil

-----Original Message-----
From: Brian Ellis [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2002 8:53 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [TN] A SERIOUS QUALITY QUESTION


Aren't we missing the point of quality control? Yes, we need consistent
quality, but it must be just sufficiently good that it meets the
requirements at minimum cost. Over-engineering, whether it be quality, a
product or a process is a sin, n'est-ce-pas?

In past lives, I've much used Taguchi orthogonal array experiments to
determine the optimum between quality and cost. I even wrote a software
to do it. With only 8 experiments, you can optimise 7 variables,
provided you confirm the result with a single further experiment. It's
as easy as falling off a log. And you can see the effect of compromises,
without hundreds of experiments that the conventional approach would
require. Taguchi developed 4 basic concepts of quality:
     1. Quality should be designed into the product from the start, not
by inspection and screening.

     2. Quality is best achieved by minimising the deviation from the
target, not a failure to conform to specifications.

     3. Quality should not be based on the performance, features or
characteristics of the product.

     4. The cost of quality should be measured as a function of product
performance variation and the losses measured system-wide.
These were based on the philosophy of:
Quality is the loss imparted to society from the time the product is
shipped

This approach seems to put the cart before the horse but if you read his
work carefully, you will see the sense in it. I could say that Taguchi
has been my virtual mentor for well over a decade.

Do you want to know more?

There is an excellent treatise on this philosophy at
http://kernow.curtin.edu.au/www/Taguchi/cae204.htm , assembled by a
group of students at an Oz University, one of them being Japanese who
was able to do the final editing with reference to the original
publications.

This is as serious as I'll go on the matter, but I'm very serious indeed
about the quality of Maître Taguchi's work.

Brian

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