There is a need for heavy-duty machining equipment and tooling to minimize chatter due to work-hardening of the INCONEL materials ahead of cutting. Optimum EDM parameters are to be identified to produce quality products of INCONEL800. Modified Taguchi approach is adopted in the multi-objective optimization to identify the optimum peak current, pulse-on-time and pulse-off-time in the nano powder mixed EDM (n-PMEDM) of INCONEL800 with copper electrode for high material removal rate (MRR) and low surface roughness (SR). Empirical relations for MRR and SR are developed easily in terms of the EDM parameters without use of the MINITAB Release-16 software and validated with test results. Test results are found to be within the expected range. It also demonstrates the advantages of opting Taguchi approach to get complete information through few experiments.

A global perspective view of total quality management Ever since the industrial world began to experience tough global competition, the generic term "total quality management" (TQM) has become the centre of discussions. Though globally TQM is approved as a ladder for achieving excellence in quality to reach a superior level in the highly competitive market, there still exist differing views on the approaches involved in achieving it. Even as the industrial world witnesses strident campaigning by quality engineering experts and academicians over implementing successful TQM, many sceptical observations are made by the manufacturers who attempted to implement TQM in their firms at the expense of money and time. A brief but careful study made by the authors reveals that even though considerable efforts are made in modern manufacturing firms to facilitate employees' participation in quality improvement projects through quality circle programmes, only subtle attempts are made to review the existing statistical quality and process control practices which basically embrace the principle of compromising quality by justifying the deviations from the target parameters. This is a gross violation of the principles, objectives and philosophy of TQM. As a matter of fact, as long as these conventional statistical practices dominate manufacturing firms, there is little chance of effecting TQM, the philosophy of which lies on two main pillars, namely, continuous improvement of quality, and achieving quality through the backing of all in the concern. Already plenty of successful case studies from the

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to adopt the multi-objective optimization technique for identifying a set of optimum abrasive water jet machining (AWJM) parameters to achieve maximum material removal rate (MRR) and minimum surface roughness. Design/methodology/approach Data of a few experiments as per the Taguchi’s orthogonal array are considered for achieving maximum MRR and minimum surface roughness (Ra) of the Inconel718. Analysis of variance is performed to understand the statistical significance of AWJM input process parameters. Findings Empirical relations are developed for MRR and Ra in terms of the AWJM process parameters and demonstrated their adequacy through comparison of test results. Research limitations/implications The signal-to-noise ratio transformation should be applied to take in to account the scatter in the repetition of tests in each test run. But, many researchers have adopted this transformation on a single output response of each test run, which has no added advantage other than additional computational task. This paper explains the impact of insignificant process parameter in selection of optimal process parameters. This paper demands drawbacks and complexity in existing theories prior to use new algorithms. Practical implications Taguchi approach is quite simple and easy to handle optimization problems, which has no practical implications (if it handles properly). There is no necessity to hunt for new algorithms for obtaining solution for multi-objective optimization AWJM process. Originality/value This paper deals with a case study, which demonstrates the simplicity of the Taguchi approach in solving multi-objective optimization problems with a few number of experiments.

Today the entire research community is looking for sustainable materials. In that process, more research is going on to utilize the natural materials as binders, fillers, reinforcement etc., to enhance the mechanical and thermal properties without affecting the nature. Numerous amount of research is carried out various regions of the world on the usage of pine, sisal, hemp, bagasse, jute, bamboo, coir as reinforcement. This study focuses on the utilization of agro waste like Roselle (Hibiscus Sabdariffa) as reinforcement material in epoxy LY 556 matrix along with different volume percentage of natural filler to form a unique bio based composite material. The composite specimens were fabricated by vacuum bag moulding method. The mechanical properties of the fabricated specimen at different compositions is studied. The maximum mechanical properties were observed for the composite with 30:70 volume percentage Hibiscus sabdariffa with epoxy resin added composition. From the results we can conclude the composite developed using Roselle powder and LY 556 epoxy would be very good alternate for various light weight material applications.

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