An effective approach to teach design of experiments (DOE) using calculation-and-analysis worksheets and computerized spreadsheets

The École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS) of the University of Québec is offering Design of Experiments (DOE) courses for more than a decade within its undergraduate certificate program of Quality Management and Assurance (QMA). Previous teaching experiences showed that the conceptual aspects of DOE has been somehow difficult to be rapidly and efficiently assimilated by the part-time adult students. Although DOE have proved to be very effective in improving quality throught process parametersʹ optimization, many engineers rejected the idea of applying the technique on the floor level because of the conceptual and statistical barriers. For these reasons, the authors have developed and introduced a new teaching approach in order to clarify the conceptual aspects and simplify the mechanics underlying the DOE techniques and, therefore, help the students to better understand and implement DOE at the work place. The approach is mainly based on the use of simple and straight forward calculation-and-analysis worksheets that have been developed for the most commonly used experimental designs (full factorial, screening factorial, screening fractionnal factorial and Taguchi arrays). In this paper, the authors present the approach with a sample of the most pertinent calculation-and-analysis worksheets used along with a practical example.