Design Practice Speaker Series

Six Fundamental Robust Design Ideas for Direct Use

Dr. Kevin Otto & Dr. Tobias Eifler

Thursday, June 10th 2021 @ 13:00 BST

Join us for this webinar with Dr. Kevin Otto & Dr. Tobias Eifler 

This webinar is presented by the Design Practice SIG.

The experimental Taguchi Robust Design Methodology has been available for decades, yet the practice of robust design to provide quality improvements have not been widely adopted. In this talk, we expand on why that is the case and will complement the traditional understanding of Robust Design by six methods that are directly applicable and can be used along all phases of product development to improve quality. Modern computer code libraries are available today that make robust design analysis easy to perform. Mechanical assembly principles of exact constraint prevent over-constraining and reduce sources of variation. Identifying early the functional conflicts in a design and generating ideas to eliminate compromise solutions improves available design margins for less sensitive designs and higher quality. Simplifying the design also eliminates opportunity for variability.  It is well known that applying design-for-assembly principles not only simplify the assembly process, hand-in-hand it reduces defect opportunities and increases quality. This can be extended into the functional analysis domain. A design can be scrutinized for which functions are not necessary, but only there due to a weak solution for the necessary functions. Eliminating these simplifies the design and eliminates defect opportunities. This can be extend all the way to identifying the most ideal robust design.

Bio – Kevin Otto

Kevin Otto is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Aalto University in Finland.  He has been working in modularity, product platforms, robust design, and manufacturing quality control for over 30 years. He is on the Design Society Advisory Board and actively working to ensure engagement of industry members in the Society.  He teaches design, manufacturing and quality control courses, and as a Master Black Belt has several industrial training programs in six sigma, manufacturing and design. He has several active research projects underway at company sites and programs. 

Bio – Tobias Eifler

Tobias Eifler is Associate Professor at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and group leader for DTU’s Robust Design research program. His research focuses on early stage Robust Design principles and the question of robustness in integrated systems, e.g. by qualitative and quantitative trade-off avoidance strategies. Tobias
is co-chair of the Robust Design SIG in the Design Society, and is involved in several active research projects in collaboration with the medical device industry in Denmark.