Genichi Taguchi
田口 玄一
Born	(1924-01-01)January 1, 1924 Tokamachi,Japan
Died	June 2, 2012(2012-06-02) (aged 88) Japan
Citizenship	Japan
Alma mater	Kiryu Technical College
Known for	Taguchi methods
Awards	Indigo Ribbon,Shewhart Medal Automotive Hall of Fame
Scientific career
Fields	engineering,statistics
Institutions	Aoyama Gakuin University

Genichi Taguchi (田口 玄一,Taguchi Gen'ichi; January 1, 1924 – June 2, 2012) was a Japaneseengineer andstatistician.^[1] From the 1950s on, Taguchi developed a methodology for applyingstatistics to improve the quality of manufactured goods.Taguchi methods have been controversial among some conventional Western statisticians,^[2][3] but others have accepted many of the concepts introduced by him as valid extensions to the body of knowledge.

Taguchi was born and raised in the textile town ofTokamachi, inNiigata prefecture. He initially studied textileengineering atKiryu Technical College with the intention of entering the familykimono business.^[4] However, with the escalation ofWorld War II in 1942, he was drafted into the Astronomical Department of the Navigation Institute of theImperial Japanese Navy.

After the war, in 1948 he joined theMinistry of Public Health and Welfare, where he came under the influence of eminentstatisticianMatosaburo Masuyama, who kindled his interest in thedesign of experiments. He also worked at theInstitute of Statistical Mathematics during this time,^[4] and supported experimental work on the production ofpenicillin atMorinaga Pharmaceuticals, aMorinaga Seika company.

In 1950, he joined the Electrical Communications Laboratory (ECL) of theNippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation just as statistical quality control was beginning to become popular inJapan,^[4] under the influence ofW. Edwards Deming and theUnion of Japanese Scientists and Engineers. ECL was engaged in a rivalry withBell Labs to develop cross bar and telephone switching systems, and Taguchi spent his twelve years there developing methods for enhancing quality and reliability. Even at this point, he was beginning to consult widely in Japanese industry, withToyota being an early adopter of his ideas.

During the 1950s, he collaborated widely and in 1954-1955 was visiting professor at theIndian Statistical Institute, where he worked withC. R. Rao,Ronald Fisher andWalter A. Shewhart.^[5] While working at the SQC Unit of ISI, he was introduced to theorthogonal arrays invented by C. R. Rao - a topic which was to be instrumental in enabling him to develop the foundation blocks of what is now known as Taguchi methods.

On completing his doctorate atKyushu University in 1962,^[6][7] he left ECL, though he maintained a consulting relationship. In the same year he visitedPrinceton University under the sponsorship ofJohn Tukey, who arranged a spell atBell Labs, his old ECL rivals. In 1964 he became professor ofengineering atAoyama Gakuin University,Tokyo.^[5] In 1966 he began a collaboration withYuin Wu, who later emigrated to theU.S. and, in 1980, invited Taguchi to lecture. During his visit there, Taguchi himself financed a return toBell Labs, where his initial teaching had made little enduring impact. This second visit began a collaboration withMadhav Phadke and a growing enthusiasm for his methodology inBell Labs and elsewhere, includingFord Motor Company,Boeing,Xerox andITT.

Since 1982, Genichi Taguchi has been an advisor to theJapanese Standards Institute and executive director of the American Supplier Institute, an international consulting organisation.^[8] His concepts pertaining to experimental design, the loss function, robust design, and the reduction of variation have influenced fields beyond product design and manufacturing, such assales process engineering.^[9]

One of Genichi Taguchi’s most important contributions was the development of the concept ofrobust design, which aims to minimize product variability even under adverse conditions. This approach is based on the use of orthogonal arrays and the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio analysis, with the goal of optimizing products and processes at early stages of design. The Taguchi method has been widely adopted in the automotive and electronics industries due to its effectiveness in reducing costs and improving quality.

Taguchi has made a very influential contribution to industrial statistics. Key elements of his quality philosophy include the following:

1. Taguchi loss function, used to measure financial loss to society resulting from poor quality;
2. The philosophy ofoff-line quality control, designing products and processes so that they are insensitive ("robust") to parameters outside the design engineer's control.
3. Innovations in the statisticaldesign of experiments, notably the use of an outer array for factors that are uncontrollable in real life, but are systematically varied in the experiment.

• 1960 - Deming Prize for Individuals
• 1986 -Willard F. Rockwell Medal of the International Technology Institute
• 1989 -Indigo Ribbon from theEmperor of Japan
• 1990 - Honoured as a Quality Guru by the British Department of Trade and Industry
• 1995 - Honorary member of theJapanese Society of Quality Control
• 1996 - Honorary Fellow of theInstitute of Directors (India)
• 1997 -Automotive Hall of Fame Inductee
• 1998 - Honorary member of theAmerican Society for Quality^[4]
• 1998 - Honorary member of theAmerican Society of Mechanical Engineers
• 1999 - Honorary president of theRobust Quality Engineering Society (Japan)

• Taguchi, Genichi (1986).Introduction to Quality Engineering: Designing Quality into Products and Processes. Tokyo, Japan: Asian Productivity Organization.ISBN 978-928-3310846.
• Taguchi, Genichi (August 1992).Taguchi on Robust Technology Development: Bringing Quality Engineering Upstream. ASME Press.ISBN 978-0791800287.
• Taguchi, Genichi; Chowdhury, Subir; Taguchi, Shin (October 1999).Robust Engineering: Learn How to Boost Quality while Reducing Costs & Time to Market. McGraw-Hill Professional.ISBN 978-0071347822.
• Taguchi, Genichi; Chowdhury, Subir; Wu, Yuin (August 2000).The Mahalanobis-Taguchi System. McGraw Hill Professional.ISBN 978-0071362634.
• Taguchi, Genichi; Jugulum, Rajesh (2002).The Mahalanobis-Taguchi Strategy : A Pattern Technology System. John Wiley & Sons.ISBN 978-0471023333.
• Taguchi, Genichi; Jugulum, Rajesh; Taguchi, Shin (2004).Computer-Based Robust Engineering: Essential For DFSS. Amer Society for Quality.ISBN 978-0873896221.
• Taguchi, Genichi; Chowdhury, Subir; Wu, Yuin (2005).Taguchi's Quality Engineering Handbook. John Wiley.ISBN 978-0471413349.

• Photograph of Dr. Genichi Taguchi
• ASQ Taguchi Biography

• Academic staff of Aoyama Gakuin University
• Japanese business theorists
• Japanese industrial engineers
• Quality experts
• Japanese statisticians
• 1924 births
• 2012 deaths
• Imperial Japanese Navy personnel of World War II
• Scientists from Niigata Prefecture
• Academics from Niigata Prefecture

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• Articles containing Japanese-language text