The name of Genichi Taguchi is recognized throughout the world, thanks to its multiple contributions in the area of quality. His research has become an icon in the business world and that is why today we want to tell you everything we know about this master of quality from Japan..
Genichi Taguchi was born in 1924 and died in 2012. This great man was a Japanese engineer and statistician who revolutionized the quality area, mainly focused on improving the manufacturing products of its time. However, their knowledge transcends time and has served as a basis for other contemporary researchers to continue making this area evolve..
Although his studies were developed in his native country, they were so important that they transcended the barriers of his continent and his name, soon became very relevant worldwide..
It is important to highlight that Genichi Taguchi was born in a textile area, This means that since childhood he was steeped in the textile industry, as this was the way his family made a living. This is why when he grows up, he decides to study textile engineering at Kiryu University..
The particular thing about the case is that, although he was fully immersed in the textile subject, some sources affirm that his degree was obtained as a Mechanical Engineer.
Taguchi's fundamental desire was to enter the textile industry of his country, however, life had other plans, and this was hampered by the outbreak of the Second World War. This made Genichi will join the astronomical department of the Institute of Navigation of the Japanese Navy.
The flowering of Genichi Taguchi's career began in the 1950s, when he joined one of the most important Telecommunications companies in his native country, in the electrical communications laboratory. The company we are referring to is: Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT).
At this time they began to study statistical methods as tools to improve the productivity of companies. Taguchi, began to study this very closely because he recognized the high potential it had for continuous improvement of processes.
For more than a decade, the Japanese engineer worked in this company and dedicated himself to researching and developing strategies aimed at improving the quality of various products. At this time, he also dedicated himself to collaborating with different companies and achieved a PhD in Statistical Sciences and Mathematics.
When his methods and research shed important light, Genichi Taguchi withdrew from the laboratory and decided to link this knowledge to new cultures, left his continent and began a new stage in the United States where he visited renowned universities such as Princeton, while at the same time worked as a consultant for major companies such as Ford Motors and Boeing.
One of his great contributions at this time was to serve as a bridge, so that different companies that were considered rivals, established various collaborative alliances that allowed to generate ties of knowledge.
Thanks to all this, in 1982 he created his own consulting agency and is dedicated to imparting his knowledge in various universities.
Genichi Taguchi was a master in the area of statistics applied to industrial quality control and management processes. In the same way, it stood out for directly influencing various administrative mechanisms of various companies..
The contributions generated by Taguchi are also called "Taguchi Methods" and these are some of the most important:
Taguchi designed a descriptive graphic scheme, by means of which the loss was given a value that influences the other stages of the production process.
In this way, he managed to highlight a phenomenon that affects the quality of products and that can be solved by companies and their employees..
This loss value is not considered a sudden factor that definitely affects the final quality of the product. This translates into being expressed in values suitable for the different hierarchical levels of a production chain, this helps those who run the companies to recognize the value of loss and variability of production.
Taking into account that Taguchi's field of study was focused on the area of statistics and experimental functions, he created various postulates focused on industrial experimentation as a path to business development. All this was rigorously supported by the justification for its use and its contribution to maximizing the effects..
All of these focused on aspects such as: Cost reduction, influence of performance on value, tolerance levels according to the characteristics of the product, and all this without affecting quality..
This tool created by Genichi Taguchi aims at exceed customer expectations of products. It was based somewhat on investing specifically in those areas that were most relevant to clients, and less investment for those that were not so relevant..
This engineer considered that it was more relevant to work on the redesign of the products and their processes, than on the improvement of quality, since these tend to be cheaper if they are closer to the design processes.
With this tool, the opportunities for errors within production are minimized, and the aim is to minimize the variation in quality..
As you can see, Genichi Taguchi's contributions serve as a basis to improve processes within companies and help industrial development have a latent focus on product quality as a tool for customer satisfaction and loyalty..
If you are passionate about the issue of quality, meeting Genichi Taguchi will open up new horizons.
In the same way, if you are interested in knowing more about the quality area, I am sure you will love this article: Joseph Juran, Biography of this engineer.
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