Introduction to Guidesheet

A random survey of manufacturing companies, conducted in Malaysia and the UK by the author in 1997, showed that the responding companies tend to make less use of the more mathematical forms of modern quality practices such as DOE and Taguchi Methods (Abdul-Aziz et al., 1998). For the case of Malaysia, only 11 % and 4 % of the responding companies use DOE and Taguchi Methods respectively The lack of awareness of the uses and benefits of DOE and Taguchi Methods as well as the lack of knowledge on how to apply them were among the reasons cited by the Malaysian respondents for their lack of use of these methods. The survey also showed that the use of DOE and Taguchi Methods tend to be lower among the manufacturing SMEs as compared to the non-SMEs in both these countries (Abdul-Aziz et al., 2000).

In response to the above survey findings, the development of guidesheets on DOE and Taguchi Methods for use by both the manufacturing SMEs and non-SMEs in Malaysia has been carried out by the author in consultation with Dr. A. V. Metcalfe (formerly of the Department of Engineering Mathematics, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, and now of the Department of Applied Mathematics, Adelaide University, Australia). In order to ensure the usefulness of the guidesheets, the latter have been piloted among the manufacturing companies in Malaysia. The feedback obtained from the companies are being used to improve the guidesheets.

The guidesheets that have been developed are:

1) Design of Experiments - Improving Your Products and Processes (Level: Basic)

2) Design of Experiments - Improving Your Products and Processes (Level: Advanced)

3) Steps for Planning Industrial Experiments

4) Understanding Factorial Designs

5) Analyzing Factorial Designs Using Formal Statistical Methods

The first two guidesheets are aimed at increasing the awareness of DOE and its uses. While the first guidesheet is targeted at the supervisors, technicians, and upper management, the other guidesheets are targeted at engineers and middle management. The third guidesheet is intended to highlight the importance of properly planned experiments and the key steps for planning such experiments. The fourth guidesheet introduces a commonly used DOE technique known as 'factorial designs' including the various types of factorial designs. This set is to enable companies to start using DOE, in particular factorial designs. The fifth guidesheet illustrates how data from a factorial design, in particular from a two-level factorial design, can be analyzed. A feedback form has been designed in order to enable comments and suggestions to be collected. A flowchart, which enables company employees to identify the guidesheets which are relevant to them, has also been generated.

The next step is to inform manufacturing  companies in Malaysia regarding the availability of the guidesheets on the World Wide Web via the mailing out of flyers to such companies.

For all of the financial support and resources given to the author by Universiti Sains Malaysia for carrying out this project (under USM short term research grant 073290), the author would like to express her sincerest thanks to the university. The author would also like to thank all those individuals who have contributed to the completion of this project including those from the manufacturing companies who have provided useful suggestions for improving the guidesheets. A special thanks to Dr. A.V. Metcalfe, Miss Faizahnati Hamdzah, and Mr. Jerry Mourin of BCM Electronics Corporation Sdn. Bhd.

References

1. Abdul-Aziz, Z., Chan, J.F.L. & Metcalfe, A.V., Use of Quality Practices in Manufacturing Industries in Malaysia, Total Quality Management, 9(4&5):13 - 16 (July 1998) (Special issue of Proceedings of the 3^rd World Congress for Total Quality Management, U.K.).

2. Abdul-Aziz, Z., Chan, .F.L. & Metcalfe, A.V, Quality Practices in the Manufacturing Industry in the UK and Malaysia, Total Quality Management, 11(8):1053-1064 (December 2000).