Application of Mahalanobis-Taguchi system on crankshaft as remanufacturing automotive part: a case study

Abstract

While the concept of remanufacturing, especially on automotive parts is gaining in popularity, in practice the remanufacturing industry in Malaysia is still in its nascent stage, with approximately 32 fields in various industries claiming to be involved in the process. The Mahalanobis-Taguchi System (MTS) is a diagnostic method employing Mahalanobis Distance (MD) for recognizing different patterns in multivariate data. The aim of this work is to apply T method-3, which is one of the sub-methods under the MTS relating to the main journal diameter of the crankshaft. The method distinguishes between two distinct ranges of acceptable remanufacturing and non-remanufacturing processes. Furthermore, the method also categorizes various patterns of crankshaft based on their MD in unit space. The case study is performed in an automotive industry in Malaysia under a contract remanufacturing environment. The outcome of this work is expected to be the enhancement of the robustness of the remanufacturing system on pattern recognition to the company under study. As a result, the company is expected to save more time and energy in coming with faster decision-making. In addition, the study would provide greater inspiration, especially among researchers in aggressively applying MTS applications to a wider variety of industry sectors especially in the remanufacturing area.