Abstract
A number of quality loss functions, most recently the Taguchi loss function, have been developed to quantify the loss due to the deviation of product performance from the desired target value. All these loss functions assume the same loss at the specified specification limits. In many real life industrial applications, however, the losses at the two different specifications limits are often not the same. Further, current loss functions assume a product should be reworked or scrapped if product performance falls outside the specification limits. It is a common practice in many industries to replace a defective item rather than spending resources to repair it, especially if considerable amount of time is required. To rectify these two potential problems, this paper proposes more realistic quality loss functions for proper applications to real-world industrial problems. This paper also carries out a comparison studies of all the loss functions it considers.
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Abdul-Baasit Shaibu is a PhD candidate in Industrial Engineering at Clemson University. He holds a B.S. degree in Mathematics and Statistics (University of Ghana) and two M.S. degrees in Mathematical Sciences (Clemson University and King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals). He serves as a Graduate Teacher of Record in the Mathematical Sciences Department at Clemson University. His research interests include quality and reliability engineering, robust design, tolerance design and synthesis, design of experiments and sampling, and mathematical and statistical modeling.
Byung Rae Cho is the Director of the Center for Excellence in Quality and Associate Professor in the Department of Industrial Engineering at Clemson University, USA. He holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and M.S. degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the Ohio State University, and a Ph.D. degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Oklahoma. He is an Associate Editor of the International Journal of Six Sigma and Critical Advantage and is on the editorial board of the Quality Engineering Journal. His research interests include quality and reliability engineering, robust design, tolerance design and synthesis, design of experiments, statistical decision theory, and applied operations research.
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Shaibu, AB., Cho, B.R. Development of realistic quality loss functions for industrial applications. J. Syst. Sci. Syst. Eng. 15, 385–398 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11518-006-6048-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11518-006-6048-5