Quality improvement for brake judder using design for six sigma with response surface method and sigma based robust design

The problem of brake judder is typically caused by defects of quality manufacturing. DFSS (Design for six sigma) is a design process for quality improvement. DFSS will result in more improved but less expensive quality products. This paper presents an implementation of DFSS for quality improvement of the brake judder of heavy-duty trucks. Carrying out 5 steps of DFSS, the major reasons for defects of quality are found. The numerical approximation of the brake system is derived by means of the response surface method. Its quality for brake judder is improved by using the sigma based robust design methodology. Results are compared between the conventional deterministic optimal design and the proposed sigma based robust design. The proposed one shows that manufacturing cost may increase as the quality level increase. The proposed one, however, is more economical in aspect of the overall cost since the probability of failure dramatically goes down.