This paper examines various interpretations of key characteristics. Starting with Juran's dictum of focusing on "vital few" and not on "trivial many", it looks at a representative sample of extant definitions and examples. Causality and sensitivity are then discussed at some length. It is argued that it is the weighted sensitivities that determine what characteristics are key and that literature on design of experiments is offered as a unifying framework to capture may of the recent interpretations of key characteristics
By: Vijay Srinivasan
Published in: RC21385 in 1999
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