Title: Development of product family-based robust design: a case study

Authors: Jami Kovach, Byung Rae Cho

Addresses: Advanced Quality Engineering Laboratory, Department of Industrial Engineering, 110 Freeman Hall, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634, USA. ' Advanced Quality Engineering Laboratory, Department of Industrial Engineering, 110 Freeman Hall, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634, USA

Abstract: As markets continue to globalise, product diversification and manufacturing flexibility have become requirements for competitive advantage. However, companies have difficultly developing new high-quality products that simultaneously minimise manufacturing complexity. Interrelated products, such as product families, are one solution to this problem. Robust design techniques based on the concept of building quality into a design are increasingly popular in industry. However, developing product families using robust design techniques has not been fully addressed in the literature and consequently is not being used in industry. Therefore, in this paper we develop a new design methodology called Product Family-Based Robust Design to address this area of research. A case study using this approach is presented, and the results are compared to that of the traditional robust design methodology.

Keywords: product quality; product families; robust design; product differentiation; product development; product design; competitive advantage; product family design; variation reduction; cost reduction; customer satisfaction.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSSCA.2005.008506

International Journal of Six Sigma and Competitive Advantage, 2005 Vol.1 No.4, pp.403 - 419

Published online: 24 Dec 2005 *

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