Title: An integrated method of parameter design and tolerance design for multiple criteria systems

Authors: Qianmei Feng

Addresses: Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204-4008, USA

Abstract: The complicated engineering design is accomplished through three steps: system design, parameter design, and tolerance design. Parameter design and tolerance design are typically performed sequentially to determine nominal values and tolerance levels of control factors. While production costs are often reduced and quality levels are increased at the parameter design stage, the further improvement in quality at the tolerance design stage usually increases the cost. In order to reduce the product life cycle and manufacturing costs, this paper presents an integrated approach for parameter design and tolerance design to find the optimal settings of nominal values and tolerance levels for a system with multiple criteria. The case study of a passive filter network demonstrates that the proposed methodology provides, not only the reduced cost during the design phases, but also the decreased variation from multiple output responses.

Keywords: design optimisation; integrated design; multiple criteria; parameter design; quality loss; tolerance design; variation reduction; engineering design; product life cycle; manufacturing costs; passive filter network; cost reduction; variation reduction.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCAT.2008.020337

International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology, 2008 Vol.32 No.2, pp.118 - 127

Published online: 18 Sep 2008 *

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