Application of the Taguchi method to improve a medical device cutting process

Companies currently are immersed in a highly competitive world; therefore, they must adopt continuous process and product improvement techniques to remain in business and retain loyal customers. This paper presents the analysis of a medical device manufacturing company to determine what factors influence the length variation of plastic tubes in a cutting process. These tubes are part of intensive care sets; therefore, their length and diameter are critical features. Recently, products were rejected for not meeting the tube length specification, causing customer complaints regarding product quality. The Taguchi method was applied to find significant factors that determine the best configuration in the cutting process to approximate this quality characteristic to its desired target value. Important factors and their corresponding best levels were identified. After the proposed process adjustment was implemented, the process capability index (C-pk) increased from 0.90 to 1.58, which indicated a considerable reduction in customer complaints and corresponding costs.