Application of Taguchi method and Shainin DOE compared to classical DOE in plastic injection molding process

Abstract

Design of Experiment (DOE) has prevailingly used in various industries from its effectiveness of a statistical technique for managing and improving processes. In this work, the three DOE approaches, Classical DOE or factorial design, Taguchi method and Shainin DOE are applied in a case of plastic injection molding process. A comparative analysis is carried out to express the way of implementation and the merit of each approach based on the accuracy of information and the ease of use. The results show that significant factors obtained from the three DOEs are aligned together. For all approaches, the most three factors influencing to the response, %volume shrinkage, are exactly the same including the optimal process parameters chosen. This is one of an evidence of effectiveness for both Taguchi method and Shainin DOE in practice. The adoption of DOE approaches outlined in this paper and their application to an industrial process will be valuable to practitioners to gain understanding of DOE techniques and to use them fit to their quality issue.