Robust Tolerance Design Considering Process Capability and Quality Loss

Abstract

Tolerance design bridges design and manufacturing. Concurrent design of tolerances and manufacturing processes may ensure the manufacturability, reduce the manufacturing and other related costs, decrease the number of fraction nonconforming (or defective rate), and shorten the production lead time. Since process capability indices relate tolerance specifications to manufacturing process capabilities, it is quite natural to apply them to concurrent design of tolerances and processes. As process shifts often exist in a manufacturing process, using Cp does not yield a good estimation of fraction nonconforming. Index Cpk does not precisely measure process shift either, but Cpm does. Therefore, this research compares the applications of Cp, Cpk and Cpm based on a numerical example of non-linear mechanical tolerance synthesis. In addition, the Taguchi quality loss function is used together with the manufacturing cost as the objective function.