Taguchi Methods
version 1.0
Creative commons
Existing plant
measurements
Physics, chemistry, and chemical
engineering knowledge & intuition
Bayesian network models to
establish connections
Patterns of likely
causes & influences
Case modified from Lunnery, Sohelia R., and Joseph M. Sutej. "Optimizing a PU formulation by the
Taguchi Method. (polyurethane quality control)." Plastics Engineering 46.n2 (Feb 1990): 23(5).
Field case study:
Polyurethane quality control
Factors and # factors Description
Levels
Polyol type 4 A,B,C, D
Catalyst package 5 1,2,3,4,5
Surfactant type 3 S1, S2, S3
Water, wt% 2 0.5, 1,5
CFC-11, wt% 2 25,35
Isocyanate type 2 11,12
Case modified from Lunnery, Sohelia R., and Joseph M. Sutej. "Optimizing a PU formulation by the
Taguchi Method. (polyurethane quality control)." Plastics Engineering 46.n2 (Feb 1990): 23(5).
Field case study:
Polyurethane quality control
Experiment design using a modified L16 array
Case modified from Lunnery, Sohelia R., and Joseph M. Sutej. "Optimizing a PU formulation by the
Taguchi Method. (polyurethane quality control)." Plastics Engineering 46.n2 (Feb 1990): 23(5).
Field case study:
Polyurethane quality control
Experimental Procedure:
Reactivity profile and friability (subjective rating) were
determined from hand-mix foams prepared in 1-gal paper cans.
Free rise densities were measured on core samples of open
blow foams. Height of rise at gel, final rise height, and flow ratio
were determined in a flow tube.
Data Analysis
ANOVA to identify significant factors, followed by linear
regression to identify optimal conditions
Case modified from Lunnery, Sohelia R., and Joseph M. Sutej. "Optimizing a PU formulation by the
Taguchi Method. (polyurethane quality control)." Plastics Engineering 46.n2 (Feb 1990): 23(5).
Extreme Example:
Sesame Seed Suffering
You have just produced 1000x 55 gallon drums of
sesame oil for sale to your distributors.
Just before you are to ship the oil, one of your
employees remembers that one of the oil barrels was
temporarily used to store insecticide and is almost
surely contaminated. Unfortunately, all of the barrels
look the same.
One barrel of sesame oil sells for $1000, while each assay for
insecticide in food oil costs $1200 and takes 3 days. Tests for
insecticide are extremely sensitive. What do you do?
Extreme Example:
Sesame Seed Suffering
Solution: Extreme multiplexing. Like
Taguchi methods but optimized for very
sparse systems
Example solution w/ 8 barrels
Mix samples from each
barrel and test mixtures 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
A,B,C poison barrel
Mix 1,2,3,4 --> Sample A -,-,- 8 Result: Using only 3 tests
Mix 1,2,5,6 -> Sample B +,-,- 4 you can uniquely identify
-,+,- 6
Mix 1,3,5,7 -> Sample C -,-,+ 7
the poison barrel!
+,+,- 2
Is this enough tests? +,-,+ 3
-,+,+ 5
+,+,+ 1
Extreme Example:
Sesame Seed Suffering
Solution: Extreme multiplexing. Like
Taguchi methods but optimized for very
sparse systems
Solution w/ 1000 barrels
Mix samples from each
barrel and test mixtures 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Experiments required=Log2(1000)=~10