Abstract
A major problem in industry today is inefficient and poor quality design. A general tool to aid in the improvement of this common problem is presented. The proposed tool is comprised of a computer-aided design program embodying Taguchi methods and using knowledge-based system techniques. The primary purpose of such a program is to encourage design improvements early in the design process, thereby making the process more efficient and resulting in a better design. The tool is intended to aid designers unfamiliar with the “Design for Latitude” concept and other parts of the Taguchi methods how to set up and solve problems for solution. The overall result of using this kind of tool should be better design through catching problems and weaknesses very early in the process, before most commitments to manufacturing processes and tooling have been made.