Role of Statistics in Robust Design

When a new vehicle or a variant of an existing vehicle is to be launched, it is vital to decide whether the vehicle is going to meet the predetermined targets. Using warranty data or CAE models, it may be possible to identify components of various aggregates with selected conformance/performance objectives.

We have developed a method, which identifies what should be the tolerances for the dimensions of components, so that the conformance/performance would be within the speculated tolerance band. When the relationship between the conformance/performance criterion and the dimensions of components is quantitatively unknown, we have employed Central Composite Design at the FEA level. This establishes an empirical relationship between the conformance/performance criteria and dimensions of the selected components.