Taguchi methods

Taguchi methods (Japanese: ) are statistical

methods developed by Genichi Taguchi to improve the
quality of manufactured goods, and more recently also
applied to engineering,* [1] biotechnology,* [2]* [3] marketing and advertising.* [4] Professional statisticians have
welcomed the goals and improvements brought about by
Taguchi methods, particularly by Taguchi's development
of designs for studying variation, but have criticized the
ineciency of some of Taguchi's proposals.* [5]

for example, to machine a hole to a specied diameter,

or to manufacture a cell to produce a given voltage. He
also realised, as had Walter A. Shewhart and others before him, that excessive variation lay at the root of poor
manufactured quality and that reacting to individual items
inside and outside specication was counterproductive.
He therefore argued that quality engineering should start
with an understanding of quality costs in various situations. In much conventional industrial engineering, the
quality costs are simply represented by the number of
items outside specication multiplied by the cost of rework or scrap. However, Taguchi insisted that manufacturers broaden their horizons to consider cost to society. Though the short-term costs may simply be those
of non-conformance, any item manufactured away from
nominal would result in some loss to the customer or the
wider community through early wear-out; diculties in
interfacing with other parts, themselves probably wide of
nominal; or the need to build in safety margins. These
losses are externalities and are usually ignored by manufacturers, which are more interested in their private costs
than social costs. Such externalities prevent markets from
operating eciently, according to analyses of public economics. Taguchi argued that such losses would inevitably
nd their way back to the originating corporation (in an
eect similar to the tragedy of the commons), and that by
working to minimise them, manufacturers would enhance
brand reputation, win markets and generate prots.

Taguchi's work includes three principal contributions to

statistics:
A specic loss function
The philosophy of o-line quality control; and
Innovations in the design of experiments.

1
1.1

Loss functions
Loss functions in statistical theory

Traditionally, statistical methods have relied on meanunbiased estimators of treatment eects: Under the conditions of the Gauss-Markov theorem, least squares estimators have minimum variance among all mean-unbiased
estimators. The emphasis on comparisons of means also
draws (limiting) comfort from the law of large numbers,
according to which the sample means converge to the true
mean. Fisher's textbook on the design of experiments
emphasized comparisons of treatment means.

Such losses are, of course, very small when an item is near

to negligible. Donald J. Wheeler characterised the region
within specication limits as where we deny that losses
exist. As we diverge from nominal, losses grow until the
point where losses are too great to deny and the specication limit is drawn. All these losses are, as W. Edwards
Deming would describe them, unknown and unknowable,
but Taguchi wanted to nd a useful way of representing
them statistically. Taguchi specied three situations:

However, loss functions were avoided by Ronald A.

Fisher.* [6]

1.2

Taguchi's use of loss functions

Taguchi knew statistical theory mainly from the followers

1. Larger the better (for example, agricultural yield);
of Ronald A. Fisher, who also avoided loss functions. Reacting to Fisher's methods in the design of experiments,
2. Smaller the better (for example, carbon dioxide
Taguchi interpreted Fisher's methods as being adapted
emissions); and
for seeking to improve the mean outcome of a process.
3. On-target, minimum-variation (for example, a matIndeed, Fisher's work had been largely motivated by proing part in an assembly).
grammes to compare agricultural yields under dierent
treatments and blocks, and such experiments were done
as part of a long-term programme to improve harvests.
The rst two cases are represented by simple monotonic
However, Taguchi realised that in much industrial pro- loss functions. In the third case, Taguchi adopted a
duction, there is a need to produce an outcome on target, squared-error loss function for several reasons:
1

3 DESIGN OF EXPERIMENTS
It is the rstsymmetricterm in the Taylor series Robust parameter designs consider controllable and unexpansion of real analytic loss-functions.
controllable noise variables; they seek to exploit relationships and optimize settings that minimize the eects of
Total loss is measured by the variance. For the noise variables.
uncorrelated random variables, as variance is additive the total loss is an additive measurement of cost.
The squared-error loss function is widely used in 2.1.3 Tolerance design
statistics, following Gauss's use of the squarederror loss function in justifying the method of least Main article: Pareto principle
squares.

With a successfully completed parameter design, and an

1.3 Reception of Taguchi's ideas by statis- understanding of the eect that the various parameters
have on performance, resources can be focused on reticians
ducing and controlling variation in the critical few dimensions.
Though many of Taguchi's concerns and conclusions are
welcomed by statisticians and economists, some ideas
have been especially criticized. For example, Taguchi's
recommendation that industrial experiments maximise 3 Design of experiments
some signal-to-noise ratio (representing the magnitude of
the mean of a process compared to its variation) has been
Taguchi developed his experimental theories indepencriticized widely.
dently. Taguchi read works following R. A. Fisher only
in 1954. Taguchi's framework for design of experiments
is idiosyncratic and often awed, but contains much that
2 O-line quality control
is of enormous value. He made a number of innovations.

2.1

Taguchi's rule for manufacturing

3.1 Outer arrays

Taguchi realized that the best opportunity to eliminate

variation is during the design of a product and its manuTaguchi's designs aimed to allow greater understanding
facturing process. Consequently, he developed a strategy
of variation than did many of the traditional designs from
for quality engineering that can be used in both contexts.
the analysis of variance (following Fisher). Taguchi conThe process has three stages:
tended that conventional sampling is inadequate here as
there is no way of obtaining a random sample of fu System design
ture conditions.* [7] In Fisher's design of experiments and
analysis of variance, experiments aim to reduce the in Parameter (measure) design
uence of nuisance factors to allow comparisons of the
Tolerance design
mean treatment-eects. Variation becomes even more
central in Taguchi's thinking.
Taguchi proposed extending each experiment with an
outer array(possibly an orthogonal array); the outer
This is design at the conceptual level, involving creativity arrayshould simulate the random environment in which
the product would function. This is an example of
and innovation.
judgmental sampling. Many quality specialists have been
using outer arrays.
2.1.2 Parameter design
Later innovations in outer arrays resulted in comOnce the concept is established, the nominal values of pounded noise.This involves combining a few noise facthe various dimensions and design parameters need to tors to create two levels in the outer array: First, noise facbe set, the detail design phase of conventional engineer- tors that drive output lower, and second, noise factors that
ing. Taguchi's radical insight was that the exact choice drive output higher.Compounded noisesimulates the
of values required is under-specied by the performance extremes of noise variation but uses fewer experimental
requirements of the system. In many circumstances, this runs than would previous Taguchi designs.
2.1.1

System design

allows the parameters to be chosen so as to minimize the

eects on performance arising from variation in manufacture, environment and cumulative damage. This is 3.2
sometimes called robustication.

Management of interactions

3
3.2.1

Interactions, as treated by Taguchi

4 Assessment

Many of the orthogonal arrays that Taguchi has advocated

are saturated arrays, allowing no scope for estimation of
interactions. This is a continuing topic of controversy.
However, this is only true for control factorsor factors in the inner array. By combining an inner array of control factors with an outer array of noise factors, Taguchi's approach providesfull informationon
control-by-noise interactions, it is claimed. Taguchi argues that such interactions have the greatest importance in
achieving a design that is robust to noise factor variation.
The Taguchi approach provides more complete interaction information than typical fractional factorial designs,
its adherents claim.

Genichi Taguchi has made valuable contributions to

statistics and engineering. His emphasis on loss to society, techniques for investigating variation in experiments,
and his overall strategy of system, parameter and tolerance design have been inuential in improving manufactured quality worldwide.* [9] Although some of the statistical aspects of the Taguchi methods are disputable,
there is no dispute that they are widely applied to various processes. A quick search in related journals, as
well as the World Wide Web, reveals that the method
is being successfully implemented in diverse areas,such
as the design of VLSI; optimization of communication
& information networks, development of electronic circuits, laser engraving of photo masks, cash-ow optimization in banking,government policymaking, runway
Followers of Taguchi argue that the designs of- utilization improvement in airports, and even robust ecofer rapid results and that interactions can be elim- design.* [10]
inated by proper choice of quality characteristics.
That notwithstanding, aconrmation experiment
oers protection against any residual interactions. 5 See also
If the quality characteristic represents the energy
transformation of the system, then thelikelihood
Design of experiments
of control factor-by-control factor interactions is
greatly reduced, since energyis additive.
Optimal design
Orthogonal array

3.2.2

Inecencies of Taguchi's designs

Interactions are part of the real world. In Taguchi's

arrays, interactions are confounded and dicult to
resolve.

Quality management
Response surface methodology
Sales process engineering
Six sigma
Tolerance (engineering)

Statisticians in response surface methodology (RSM) advocate thesequential assemblyof designs: In the RSM
approach, a screening design is followed by a followup designthat resolves only the confounded interactions
judged worth resolution. A second follow-up design may
be added (time and resources allowing) to explore possible high-order univariate eects of the remaining variables, as high-order univariate eects are less likely in
variables already eliminated for having no linear eect.
With the economy of screening designs and the exibility of follow-up designs, sequential designs have great
statistical eciency. The sequential designs of response
surface methodology require far fewer experimental runs
than would a sequence of Taguchi's designs.* [8]

3.3

Analysis of experiments

Taguchi introduced many methods for analysing experimental results including novel applications of the analysis
of variance and minute analysis.

Probabilistic design

6 References
[1] Rosa, Jorge Luiz; Robin, Alain; Silva, M. B.; Baldan, Carlos Alberto; Peres, Mauro Pedro. Electrodeposition of copper on titanium wires: Taguchi
experimental design approach.
Journal of Materials Processing Technology 209:
11811188.
doi:10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2008.03.021.
[2] Rao, Ravella Sreenivas; C. Ganesh Kumar; R. Shetty
Prakasham; Phil J. Hobbs (March 2008). The Taguchi
methodology as a statistical tool for biotechnological applications: A critical appraisal. Biotechnology Journal
3 (4): 510523. doi:10.1002/biot.200700201. PMID
18320563. Retrieved 2009-04-01.
[3] Rao, R. Sreenivas; R.S. Prakasham, K. Krishna Prasad,
S. Rajesham, P.N. Sarma, L. Venkateswar Rao (April
2004). Xylitol production by Candida sp.: parameter optimization using Taguchi approach. Process

7 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Biochemistry 39 (8): 951956.

9592(03)00207-3.

doi:10.1016/S0032-

[4] Selden, Paul H. (1997). Sales Process Engineering: A Personal Workshop. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: ASQ Quality
Press. p. 237. ISBN 0-87389-418-9.
[5] Professional statisticians have welcomed Taguchi's concerns and emphasis on understanding variation (and not
just the mean):
Logothetis, N. and Wynn, H. P. (1989). Quality Through Design: Experimental Design, O-line
Quality Control, and Taguchi's Contributions. Oxford University Press, Oxford Science Publications.
pp. 464+xi. ISBN 0-19-851993-1.
Wu, C. F. Je and Hamada, Michael (2002). Experiments: Planning, Analysis, and Parameter Design Optimization. Wiley.
Box, G. E. P. and Draper, Norman. 2007. Response Surfaces, Mixtures, and Ridge Analyses, Second Edition [of Empirical Model-Building and Response Surfaces, 1987], Wiley.
Atkinson, A. C. and Donev, A. N. and Tobias, R. D.
(2007). Optimum Experimental Designs, with SAS.
Oxford University Press. pp. 511+xvi. ISBN 9780-19-929660-6.
Of course, these statisticians celebrate the achievements
of Taguchi, the Edward Deming of Japan, whose books
and trans-Atlantic visits helped industrial leaders appreciate the role of statistical methods in total quality management. That said, professional statisticians have criticized
some of Taguchi's designs, as being less ecient than the
traditional designs or optimal designs of response surface
methodology. At the same time, the industrial adaption
of even inecient Taguchi designs demonstrated a market for response-surface methodology, which had been neglected by statistical researchers and textbooks. Taguchi's
successes forced many improvements on statistical textbooks, which had to become more accessible to industrial
practitioners.
[6] In fact, Fisher labelled loss functions as being better suited
for American businessmen and Soviet comisars than for
empirical scientists (in Fisher's 1956 attack on Wald in
the 1956 JRSS).
[7] Similar truisms about the problem of induction had been
voiced by Hume and (more recently) by W. Edwards
Deming in his discussion of analytic studies.
[8] Statisticians have developed designs that enable experiments to use fewer replications (or experimental runs),
enabling savings over Taguchi's proposed designs:
Atkinson, A. C. and Donev, A. N. and Tobias, R. D.
(2007). Optimum Experimental Designs, with SAS.
Oxford University Press. pp. 511+xvi. ISBN 9780-19-929660-6.
Box, G. E. P. and Draper, Norman. 2007. Response Surfaces, Mixtures, and Ridge Analyses, Second Edition [of Empirical Model-Building and Response Surfaces, 1987], Wiley.

Goos, Peter (2002). The Optimal Design of Blocked

and Split-plot Experiments. Lecture Notes in Statistics 164. Springer.
Logothetis, N. and Wynn, H. P. (1989). Quality Through Design: Experimental Design, O-line
Quality Control, and Taguchi's Contributions. Oxford University Press, Oxford Science Publications.
pp. 464+xi. ISBN 0-19-851993-1.
Pukelsheim, Friedrich (2006). Optimal Design of
Experiments. SIAM. ISBN 978-0-89871-604-7.
Wu, C. F. Je and Hamada, Michael (2002). Experiments: Planning, Analysis, and Parameter Design Optimization. Wiley. ISBN 0-471-25511-4.
R. H. Hardin and N. J. A. Sloane, A New Approach to the Construction of Optimal Designs,
Journal of Statistical Planning and Inference, vol.
37, 1993, pp. 339-369
R. H. Hardin and N. J. A. Sloane, ComputerGenerated Minimal (and Larger) Response Surface
Designs: (I) The Sphere
R. H. Hardin and N. J. A. Sloane, ComputerGenerated Minimal (and Larger) Response Surface
Designs: (II) The Cube
Ghosh, S. and Rao, C. R., ed. (1996). Design and
Analysis of Experiments. Handbook of Statistics 13.
North-Holland. ISBN 0-444-82061-2.
Draper, Norman and Lin, Dennis K. J. Response Surface Designs. pp. 343375.
Missing or empty |title= (help)
Gake, N. and Heiligers, B. Approximate Designs for Polynomial Regression:
Invariance, Admissibility, and Optimality".
pp. 11491199. Missing or empty |title=
(help)
Box-Draper, Atkinson-Donev-Tobias, Goos, and WuHamada discuss the sequential assembly of designs.
[9] Ben-Gal I. (2005), On the Use of Data Compression
Measures to Assess Robust Designs, IEEE Trans. on
Reliability, Vol. 54, no. 3, 381-388. Available at: http:
//www.eng.tau.ac.il/~{}bengal/Journal%20Paper.pdf
[10] Ben-Gal I., Katz R. and Bukchin J.,Robust Eco-Design:
A New Application for Quality Engineering, IIE Transactions, Vol. 40 (10), p. 907 - 918. Available at: http:
//www.eng.tau.ac.il/~{}bengal/Eco_Design.pdf

7 Bibliography
Atkinson, A. C. and Donev, A. N. and Tobias, R. D.
(2007). Optimum Experimental Designs, with SAS.
Oxford University Press. pp. 511+xvi. ISBN 9780-19-929660-6.
Box, G. E. P. and Draper, Norman. 2007. Response
Surfaces, Mixtures, and Ridge Analyses, Second Edition [of Empirical Model-Building and Response Surfaces, 1987], Wiley.

5
Goos, Peter (2002). The Optimal Design of Blocked
and Split-plot Experiments. Lecture Notes in Statistics 164. Springer.
Logothetis, N. and Wynn, H. P. (1989). Quality Through Design: Experimental Design, O-line
Quality Control, and Taguchi's Contributions. Oxford University Press, Oxford Science Publications.
pp. 464+xi. ISBN 0-19-851993-1.
Pukelsheim, Friedrich (2006). Optimal Design of
Experiments. SIAM. ISBN 978-0-89871-604-7.
Wu, C. F. Je and Hamada, Michael (2002). Experiments: Planning, Analysis, and Parameter Design
Optimization. Wiley. ISBN 0-471-25511-4.
R. H. Hardin and N. J. A. Sloane,A New Approach
to the Construction of Optimal Designs, Journal
of Statistical Planning and Inference, vol. 37, 1993,
pp. 339-369
R. H. Hardin and N. J. A. Sloane, ComputerGenerated Minimal (and Larger) Response Surface
Designs: (I) The Sphere
R. H. Hardin and N. J. A. Sloane, ComputerGenerated Minimal (and Larger) Response Surface
Designs: (II) The Cube
Ghosh, S. and Rao, C. R., ed. (1996). Design and
Analysis of Experiments. Handbook of Statistics 13.
North-Holland. ISBN 0-444-82061-2.
Draper, Norman and Lin, Dennis K. J. Response Surface Designs. pp. 343375. Missing or empty |title= (help)
Gake, N. and Heiligers, B. Approximate Designs for Polynomial Regression:
Invariance, Admissibility, and Optimality".
pp. 11491199. Missing or empty |title=
(help)
Len, R V; Shoemaker, A C; Kacker, R N (1987).
Performance measures independent of adjustment:
an explanation and extension of Taguchi's signal-tonoise ratios (with discussion)". Technometrics 29:
253285. doi:10.2307/1269331.
Moen, R D; Nolan, T W & Provost, L P (1991) Improving Quality Through Planned Experimentation
ISBN 0-07-042673-2
Nair, V N (1992). Taguchi's parameter design:
a panel discussion. Technometrics 34: 127161.
doi:10.1080/00401706.1992.10484904.
Bagchi Tapan P and Madhuranjan Kumar (1992)
Multiple Criteria Robust Design of Electronic Devices, Journal of Electronic Manufacturing, vol 3(1),
pp. 3138

Sreenivas Rao, Ravella; Kumar, C. Ganesh;

Prakasham, R. Shetty; Hobbs, Phil J. (2008).
The Taguchi methodology as a statistical tool
for biotechnological applications: A critical appraisal. Biotechnology Journal 3: 510523.
doi:10.1002/biot.200700201.

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