Taguchi Design

Robustness-oriented experimental design using orthogonal arrays and the signal-to-noise ratio as response.

Also known as: Taguchi array, orthogonal array, signal-to-noise design

Taguchi designs are a family of screening plans developed by Genichi Taguchi in the 1950s. Core idea: instead of optimising the response on its mean alone, maximise its robustness against noise factors — i.e. minimise its dispersion.

  • Orthogonal arrays — pre-built standard designs (L4, L8, L9, L12, L16, L18, L27, …)
  • Inner-outer array — inner matrix with control factors, outer matrix with noise factors; every combination is measured
  • Signal-to-noise ratio — log-based metric combining mean and dispersion (S/N ratio)

See also

Used in

In the Algorithm Lab

Sources

  • Taguchi, G. — Introduction to Quality Engineering, Asian Productivity Organization, 1986
  • Roy, R. K. — A Primer on the Taguchi Method, 2nd Edition, Society of Manufacturing Engineers
  • Montgomery, D. C. — Design and Analysis of Experiments, 10th Edition, Chapter 12