The purpose of this article is to provide a survey of the various stages in the development of response surface methodology RSM. The coverage of these stages is organized in three parts that describe the evolution of RSM since its introduction in the early 1950s. Part I covers the period, 1951-1975, during which the so-called classical RSM was developed. This includes a review of basic experimental designs for fitting linear response surface models, in addition to a description of methods for the determination of optimum operating conditions. Part II, which covers the period, 1976-1999, discusses more recent modeling techniques in RSM, in addition to a coverage of Taguchi's robust parameter design and its response surface alternative approach. Part III provides a coverage of further extensions and research directions in modern RSM. This includes discussions concerning response surface models with random effects, generalized linear models, and graphical techniques for comparing response surface designs. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Response Surface Methodology.

Response surface methodology

In this paper we survey and critically comment on some basic concepts and notions relevant to the methodology dealing with process capability indices (PCI's). The emphasis is on distributional and inferential aspects. The intent is to contribute to the ..

Distributional and Inferential Properties of Process Capability Indices

The process capability indices Cp and Cpk are widely used to provide unitless measures of process potential and performance. These indices do no adequately address the issue of process centering. An alternative definition of Cp advocated by Taguchi addr..

The Taguchi capability index

We provide a compact survey and brief interpretations and comments on some 170 publications on process capability indices which appeared in widely scattered sources during the years 1992 to 2000. A...

Process capability indices- a review. 1992–2000

A new measure of the process capability (Cpm) is proposed that takes into account the proximity to the target value as well as the process variation when assessing process performance The sampling distribution for an estimate of Cpm (Ĉpm) and some of i

A New Measure of Process Capability: Cpm

This paper reports the development of the Hong Kong consumer satisfaction index (HKCSI) – a new type of consumer‐oriented economic performance indicator representing the quality of products (commodities and services) sold in Hong Kong as evaluated by Hong Kong consumers – as well as the findings of HKCSI from 1998 to 2000, each year with more than 10,000 successful telephone interviews on about 60 products. According to Hong Kong's special economic structure, the HKCSI is constructed from a consumption point of view concentrating on products and the products’ consumers, rather than from the popular production point of view focusing on firms and the firms’ customers. Key features of HKCSI include: the direct introduction of consumer characteristics (such as age, education, and income) in model construction; the wide coverage of services, especially free services; and the adoption of a product weighting system based on consumer price index (CPI), not on gross domestic product (GDP). In this paper, a theoretical framework of consumer satisfaction is first presented after investigating the relevant literature, and then the large‐scale consumer survey scheme adopted to collect the data and the structural equation modeling technique employed to estimate the indexes are discussed. New considerations in the HKCSI in such areas as model structure, indicator and questionnaire design, and product classification are elaborated upon. Next, the estimated results are analyzed focusing on the reliability and validity of the model, on the relationships among consumer satisfaction and its antecedents and consequences, and especially on the effects of consumer characteristics on consumer satisfaction and the implications of such effects for marketing practice. The results are generally consistent across different products, broadly acceptable and in agreement with previous findings, and are also relevant to Hong Kong's special situation. The paper concludes with a summary and some remarks on problems in the present study and future research directions.

Consumer satisfaction index: new practice and findings

This paper shows that under general conditions, the distributions of the estimates of the process capability indices Cp, Cpk and Cpm, are asymptotically normal.

On the asymptotic distributions of some process capability indices

On the asymptotic distributions of some process capability indices.

In the rubber industry, experiments are performed to examine how certain output characteristics are related to the design factors in the development of a rubber compound for tyre tread. Traditional approaches focus on adjusting the mean of an output characteristic to a target value. Our aim is to search for levels of the design factors which minimize the between-units variation of the output characteristic, subject to the constraint that the mean be still on target. In this regard a regression approach is now proposed and its relationship with some traditional methods, such as the 'performance measure independent of adjustment' (PERMIA), is examined. The regression approach enjoys the following properties: it permits a two-step optimization, and a subsequent change in the targeted value can be easily accommodated by adjusting the variables identified in the second stage; it does not require the form of PERMIA to be known in advance; it is computationally simple, requiring only standard regression routines. Another example, dealing with effects of factors in the ability of a printing machine to apply colouring ink, is also given for illustration. The method, as a by-product, suggests a suitable transformation of the response for the approach advocated by Box.

Lai K. Chan

Papers

A New Measure of Process Capability: Cpm

Consumer satisfaction index: new practice and findings

On the asymptotic distributions of some process capability indices

On the asymptotic distributions of some process capability indices.

A Regression Approach for Discovering Small Variation Around a Target