TUM School of Management

Production and Supply Chain Management

Prof Martin Grunow Technische Universitt Mnchen

Tolerance Design

Professor Holly Ott

Production and Supply Chain Management
Chair: Prof. Martin Grunow
TUM School of Management

Holly Ott 1
 TUM School of Management
Production and Supply Chain Management
Prof Martin Grunow Technische Universitt Mnchen

Learning Objectives
Explain the concept of tolerancing as a balance between allowed
variation around selected targets and production cost.
Understand that tolerancing is an economic issue for the customer
and producer and has to be decided with suitable trade off.
Calculate the expected tolerance for a characteristic given the
component tolerances.
Understand the concept of Natural Tolerance Limits (NTLs)

Holly Ott 2
 TUM School of Management
Production and Supply Chain Management
Prof Martin Grunow Technische Universitt Mnchen

Tolerancing
Tolerancing is the process of determining the allowable
variations in product characteristics around the selected
targets so that the customers needs are met while at the
same time the product can be produced at competitive
cost.
Tolerancing is an economic issue for the customer and
producer and has to be decided with suitable trade off.
The choice of tolerance should be done after the
manufacturing process has been selected.

2012 from "A First Course in Quality Engineering: Integrating Statistical

and Management Methods of Quality" by K.S. Krishnamoorthi. Reproduced
by permission of Taylor and Francis Group, LLC, a division of Informa plc.
Holly Ott 3
 TUM School of Management
Production and Supply Chain Management
Prof Martin Grunow Technische Universitt Mnchen

Traditional Tolerances
Traditionally, tolerancing has been done based on
experience of designers on what worked.

Machine design handbooks:

Example Drill size (inch) Tolerance (inch)
0.2660 0.4219+0.007, 0.002
0.4375 0.6094+0.008, 0.002
Shingley, J. E., and C. R. Mischke. 1986.
Standard Handbook of Machine Design. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

In general, these tolerances are calculated as 3

spread, on the assumption that the characteristics follow
the normal distribution. 2012 from "A First Course in Quality Engineering: Integrating Statistical
and Management Methods of Quality" by K.S. Krishnamoorthi. Reproduced
by permission of Taylor and Francis Group, LLC, a division of Informa plc.

Holly Ott 4
 TUM School of Management
Production and Supply Chain Management
Prof Martin Grunow Technische Universitt Mnchen

Rational Tolerances
For the design engineer to assign rational, feasible tolerances,
he/she should have information on the capabilities of the
available machines and processes.

Capability refers to the limits of variability and is usually

measured using the standard deviation of the process.

2012 from "A First Course in Quality Engineering: Integrating Statistical

and Management Methods of Quality" by K.S. Krishnamoorthi. Reproduced
by permission of Taylor and Francis Group, LLC, a division of Informa plc.
Holly Ott 5
 TUM School of Management
Production and Supply Chain Management
Prof Martin Grunow Technische Universitt Mnchen

Taguchi Loss Function

2012 from "A First Course in Quality Engineering: Integrating Statistical

and Management Methods of Quality" by K.S. Krishnamoorthi. Reproduced
by permission of Taylor and Francis Group, LLC, a division of Informa plc.
Holly Ott 6
 TUM School of Management
Production and Supply Chain Management
Prof Martin Grunow Technische Universitt Mnchen

Assembly Tolerances
The RSS formula:
Suppose L1, L2, ., Ln are measurements of n
independent components and their assembly
measurement is given by
L= L1 + L2 + + Ln.

If T1, T2, .., Tn are the tolerances on the individual

measurements, then the tolerance on the total assembly
TL is given by:
TL T1 T2 ..... Tn
2 2 2

2012 from "A First Course in Quality Engineering: Integrating Statistical

and Management Methods of Quality" by K.S. Krishnamoorthi. Reproduced
by permission of Taylor and Francis Group, LLC, a division of Informa plc.
Holly Ott 7
 TUM School of Management
Production and Supply Chain Management
Prof Martin Grunow Technische Universitt Mnchen

Assembly Tolerances
This is based on the results for distribution of sum of
normal random variables:
If X1 ~ N(1, 12) and X2 ~ N(2, 22), and X1 and X2 are
independent, then
(X1+X2) ~N (1+2, 12+22)
(X1- X2) ~N (1- 2, 12+22)

This result can be extended to any number of

independent Normally distributed variables
2012 from "A First Course in Quality Engineering: Integrating Statistical
and Management Methods of Quality" by K.S. Krishnamoorthi. Reproduced
by permission of Taylor and Francis Group, LLC, a division of Informa plc.
Holly Ott 8
 TUM School of Management
Production and Supply Chain Management
Prof Martin Grunow Technische Universitt Mnchen

Note: whether it is sum or difference

Assembly Tolerances of the components the sign inside
The radical sign is +.

L L1 L2 , L L1 L2 ,
L1 and L2 are independent L1 and L2 are independent
TL TL1 2 TL2 2 TL TL1 2 TL2 2
2012 from "A First Course in Quality Engineering: Integrating Statistical
and Management Methods of Quality" by K.S. Krishnamoorthi. Reproduced
by permission of Taylor and Francis Group, LLC, a division of Informa plc.
Holly Ott 9