Robust Design

In the early 1980s, when the quality of products made in the United States was considered subpar and the products from Japan were considered “world class,” an engineer by the name of Genechi Taguchi [1] began to (and I quote) “share my ideas of quality control with my colleagues in the United States.” This author was fortunate to have studied these ideas under Dr. Taguchi directly while employed in the R&D division of Xerox Corporation, which had engaged Taguchi as a consultant. Taguchi’s ideas go far beyond the application of experimental design, but they utilize experimental design in the implementation of “infused quality.”