Abstract
Companies currently are immersed in a highly competitive world; therefore, they must adopt continuous process and product improvement techniques to remain in business and retain loyal customers. This paper presents the analysis of a medical device manufacturing company to determine what factors influence the length variation of plastic tubes in a cutting process. These tubes are part of intensive care sets; therefore, their length and diameter are critical features. Recently, products were rejected for not meeting the tube length specification, causing customer complaints regarding product quality. The Taguchi method was applied to find significant factors that determine the best configuration in the cutting process to approximate this quality characteristic to its desired target value. Important factors and their corresponding best levels were identified. After the proposed process adjustment was implemented, the process capability index (Cpk) increased from 0.90 to 1.58, which indicated a considerable reduction in customer complaints and corresponding costs.
Highlights
One of the main aspects that determine market permanence for any business is its quality level, which is directly related to customer satisfaction
The ways organizations have evolved through continuous improvement initiatives to increase customer satisfaction and lower operational costs have been evident throughout the last few decades [3]
The Taguchi experimental design aims to minimize the variability in a product or operation in line with a specific function by selecting the most suitable combinations of the controllable factor levels compared to the uncontrollable factors that create variability for a specific product or operation [8]; in this sense, Taguchi parameter design or robust design methodology involves the maximization of performance and quality at minimum cost [9]
Summary
One of the main aspects that determine market permanence for any business is its quality level, which is directly related to customer satisfaction. It is important for organizations to continually improve the quality level of products and services to remain competitive in the marketplace. The changes in the way companies offer their products and/or services, driven by technological changes, have led to the need to develop new processes to ensure the proper management of activities within firms, aiming to provide the highest possible customer satisfaction level [4]. From this perspective, the medical industry is no exception; its products are aimed at people and are directly related to their health and integrity. The methodology section will further describe this problem that the company experiences
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