The Application of Design of Experiments to a Constant Velocity Plunging Joint Manufacturing Process

The modern industry is characterized by continuous search of production level optimization and quality improvement. Besides the investments required for technology updating it is necessary to use also techniques and work methodologies to help the process optimization. Among the techniques available in the literature, the Design of Experiments (DOE) is a useful tool for product development steps and for product and process improvements. This paper presents the application of DOE as a support tool to improve the manufacturing process of a Constant Velocity (CV) plunging joint components in order to reduce the plunging force variability. For the case study development a generic model for industrial experiments has been followed. As results of the case study is reported a significant improvement on the manufacturing process that reached an increase of the assembly joints production capacity and also allows the quality improvement.