Compound Noise: Evaluation as a Robust Design Method

This paper evaluates compound noise as a robust design method. Application of compound noise as a robust design method leads to a reduction in experimental effort. The compound noise strategy was applied to two types of situation: the first type has been described with active effects up to two-factor interactions and the second type has been described with effects up to three-factor interactions. These two situations are illustrated with help of case studies. The paper provides theoretical justification for the effectiveness of the compound noise strategy as formulated by Taguchi and Phadke. For example, we found that the compound noise strategy is very effective for systems which exhibit effect sparsity. This paper gives an alternative procedure to formulate a compound noise, distinctly different from Taguchi's formulation. The alternative method requires less information to formulate compound noise as compared to Taguchi's formulation. Overall, the paper studies the effectiveness of such an alternative formulation, outlines scenarios where compound noise as a robust design method can be effectively used and gives alternative strategies for the systems on which compound noise cannot be effective. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.