Product design improvement: Taguchi design

Producing a high quality product is very important in satisfying customer needs and gaining customer confidence. Not being able to provide customers a high quality product eventually results in decrease of profits for manufacturing companies. Therefore, the approaches that create high quality products in product development phase is extremely important in survival of manufacturing companies in ever increasing competition generated by not only domestic but also international companies.In this study, first the factors that are important in quality of a washing machine and their levels are determined. Then, these factors and their interactions are analyzed using a quality model developed in the study. Finally the optimal levels of the factors are determined with the solution of the model. In the study, along with the Taguchi method, the Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) methods such as; GRA, TOPSIS, MOORA and VIKOR are also used in the development of the model and its solution. The results of the different approaches are compared and the best combinations are determined.The results of the study are also shared with a washing machine manufacturer. The manufacturer found the results important and decided to incorporate the developed product development model into its design procedure.KEYWORDS: Product Design, Product Quality, Taguchi method, Multi Response Taguchi method, Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM), Grey Relational Analysis, TOPSIS, MOORA, VIKOR.