INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY KHARAGPUR

Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering

Mid Spring Semester Examination, February 2014
Subject Name (No.): Quality Engineering (IM31002)
Full Marks: 60 Time: 2 Hours
Instructions: (i) Attempt all questions, (ii) Maximum marks are shown against each
question, (iii) Answers should be short and to the point, (iv) Subject specific terminology
must be used, (v) Use statistical tables whenever required.

1. (a) What is replication? Why do we need replication in an experiment? Present an

example that illustrates the difference between replication and repeated measurements.
(b) Why is randomization important in an experiment?
(c) What are the potential risks of a single large, comprehensive experiment in contrast to
a sequen~jal approach? (5+5+5]

2. A manufacturer of television sets is interested in the effect of tube conductivity of four

different types of coating for color picture tubes. A complete randomized experiment is
conducted and the following conductivity data are obtained:

Coating Tl:~e Conductivity

1 143 141 150 146
2 152 149 137 143
3 134 136 132 127
4 129 127 132 129

(a) Is there a difference in conductivity due to coating type? Use a=0.05.

(b) Estimate the overall mean and the treatment effects.
(c) Compute a 95 percent interval estimate of the mean of coating type 4. Compute a 99
percent interval estimate of the mean difference between coating types 1 and 4.
(d) Test all pairs of means using the Fisher LSD method with a=0.05.
(e) Assuming that coating type 4 is currently in use, what are your recommendations to
the manufacturer? We wish to minimize conductivity. [5+2+3+3+2]

3. An engineer is studying the mileage performance characteristics of five types of gasoline

additives. In the road test he wishes to use cars as blocks; however, because of a time
constraint, he must use an incomplete block design. He runs the balanced design with the
five blocks that foll_ow. Analyze the data from this experiment (use a=0.05) and draw
conclusions. [15]

PTO

1
 Car
Additive 1 2 3 4 5
1 - 1'7 14 13 12
2 14 14 - 13 10
3 12 - 13 12 9
4 13 11 11 12
5 11 12 10 - 8

4. An industrial engineer is investigating the effect of four assembly methods (A, B, C, D)

on the assembly time for a color television component. Four operators are selected for
the study. Furthermore, the engineer knows that each assembly method produces such
fatigue that the time required forthe last assembly may be greater than the time required
{or the first, regardless of the method. That is, a trend develops in the required assembly
time. To account for this source of variability, the engineer uses the Latin square design
shown below. Analyze the data ·from this experiment (a = 0.05) and draw appropriate
conclusions. [15]

Order of O~erator
As~embly 1 2 3 4
1 C=lO D=l4 A=7 B=8
2 B=7 C=l8 D=11 A=8
3 A=5 B=lO C=l1 D=9
4 D=10 A=10 B=12 C=14

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