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Fundamentals of Design
of Experiments for
Automotive Engineering
Volume I
Fundamentals of Design
of Experiments for
Automotive Engineering
Volume I

YOUNG J. CHIANG, PHD

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400 Commonwealth Drive
Warrendale, PA 15096-0001 USA
E-mail: CustomerService@sae.org
Phone: 877-606-7323 (inside USA and Canada)
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Copyright © 2023 SAE International. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form Publisher
or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior Sherry Dickinson Nigam
written permission of SAE International. For permission and licensing requests, contact SAE Permissions,
400 Commonwealth Drive, Warrendale, PA 15096-0001 USA; e-mail: copyright@sae.org; phone: Product Manager
724-772-4028 Amanda Zeidan

Library of Congress Catalog Number 2023948382 Production and


http://dx.doi.org/10.4271/9781468606034 Manufacturing Associate
Michelle Silberman
Information contained in this work has been obtained by SAE International from sources believed to be
reliable. However, neither SAE International nor its authors guarantee the accuracy or completeness of
any information published herein and neither SAE International nor its authors shall be responsible for
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From the Publisher

I am thrilled to introduce our groundbreaking series Design of Experiments for Product Reliability Growth with
Automotive Applications which is divided into four distinct volumes. The first installment, Fundamentals of Design of
Experiments for Automotive Engineering, marks the beginning of our exploration of this critical subject.
We are publishing each volume separately to ensure in-depth coverage of each topic, allowing readers to focus on
specific aspects of the subject matter for a deeper understanding. After careful consideration of how our readers will
be using the content, we opted to continue to the page numbering system throughout the volumes for continuity.

Volume II Product Design and Testing for Automotive Engineering


Volume III Manufacturing Reliability Growth for Automotive Engineering
Volume IV Business Reliability Growth for Automotive Engineering

Thank you for joining us on this journey. We look forward to your continued support and engagement with the
upcoming volumes in the series.

Sincerely,

Sherry Nigam
Publisher, SAE Books
Contents

Prefacexv
Acronymsxvi
Nomenclaturexxvii
Introductionxxx

CHAPTER 1

Reliability Deployment 1
1.1. Product Reliability Realization 1
1.1.1. Product Quality, Robustness, and Reliability 2
1.1.2. Realization Process of Product Reliability 2
1.1.3. T
 ools for Reliability Realization 3
1.1.4. A
 dvanced Reliability Planning 4
1.1.5. R
 eliability Lauded in VOC 6
1.1.6. Product Reliability Growth 7
1.2. Uncertainty of Measurement 7
1.2.1. A
 ccuracy: Precision and Trueness 7
1.2.2. Essential Elements of Measurement 9
1.3. Unreliability 10
1.3.1. Physical and Functional Failures 10
1.3.2. Probability of Product Failure 11
1.3.3. F
 ailure Measured by Time 11
1.4. Design for Reliability 12
1.4.1. R
 eference Model and Simulation for System Identification 13
1.4.2. Boundary Diagram 13
1.4.3. P
 arameter Diagram (P-Diagram) 14
1.4.4. Fishbone Diagram 17
1.4.5. Variation Modes and Effect Analysis 18
1.5. Classification of DOE 19
1.5.1. B
 asic Types of DOE 19
1.5.2. A
 cceptance Sampling and Test Plans 20
1.5.3. Statistical Tolerance Design 20
1.5.4. Manufacturing Reliability 21

© 2023 SAE International vii


viii Contents

1.5.5. Supply Chain Reliability 21


1.5.6. Operational Reliability 21
1.5.7. Marketing Reliability 22
1.5.8. Holistic Approach 22
1.6. Software for DOE 22
References24
Problems26

CHAPTER 2

Full Factorial Design 2K27


2.1. Why DOE 27
2.1.1. C
 omplete Search for Solution in the Multidomain 28
2.1.2. Tremendous Reduction in the Number of Experimental Tests 29
2.2. What Is DOE 29
2.2.1. A
 pplication for DOE 30
2.2.2. Experimental Design Process 30
2.2.3. History of DOE 31
2.3. Objective Function and Goals 32
2.3.1. Quantifiable and Achievable 32
2.3.2. RSM: Regression Using DOE 33
2.4. Factors 35
2.4.1. T
 ypes of Factors 36
2.4.2. E
 ffects of Factors and Their Interactions 36
2.4.3. S
 elections—Doable and Controllable 37
2.4.4. Dimensionless Format 37
2.4.5. D
 esign Contrasts and Effects 38
2.4.6. Statistical Significance 39
2.5. Statistical Inference by Student’s t-Distribution 40
2.5.1. t-Distribution 41
2.5.2. Null Hypothesis 42
2.5.3. Determine the Experimental Error 42
2.5.4. E
 xperimental Error with Replications by Sample Variance Sample
Standard Deviation 43
2.5.5. E
 xperimental Error with No Replications 44
2.5.6. Engineering Error 44
2.5.7. Test for Outliers 44
2.5.8. Process Bias 45
2.5.9. Process Stability 46
2.6. Full Factorial Design with Two Levels 46
Contents ix

2.6.1. 23 Factorial Design with No Replication 46


2.6.2. 2 Factorial Design
K
50
2.6.3. Replication 51
2.6.4. Randomization 53
2.6.5. Blocking 53
2.7. Diagnostic Checking 54
2.7.1. Checking Effectiveness 55
2.7.2. Checking Adequacy 55
2.7.3. Model Validation 56
2.8. Statistical Inference by Normal Probability Plots 56
2.8.1. Normal Distribution 56
2.8.2. Normal Probability Plots (Normal Quantile Plots) 58
2.8.3. Making Normal Probability Plots Using Excel 59
2.8.4. Half-Normal Probability Plots 61
2.9. Full Factorial Design Examples 62
2.9.1. 2 Factorial Design—Case Study on Tasting Coffee
4
62
2.9.2. 25 Factorial Design—Case Study on Finite Element Accuracy 64
2.9.3. 26 Factorial Design—Case Study on Simple-Stranded Wire Cable 68

References72
Problems73

CHAPTER 3

Fractional Factorial Design 2RK-P 75


3.1. Fractional Factorial Design 75
3.1.1. F
 ractional Factorial Notation 76
3.1.2. 2IV 4-1
Design 76
3.1.3. Foldover Pair 79
3.2. Design Generators 80
3.3. Frequently Used Fractional Factorial Designs 82
3.3.1. 2V 5-1
Example—Time to Charge a Cell Phone 83
3.3.2. 2III6-3 Example: Case Study on Shrink of Optical-Fiber Cable 85

3.4. Foldover Design 87


3.4.1. 2III7-4 Design 87
3.4.2. 2IV 8-4
as Foldover Design from 2III 7-4
on an Additional Factor 89
3.4.3. F
 oldover Design Example: Gasket Sealing 91
3.4.4. Applying 2IV 8-4
Directly without Foldover 95

3.5. Fractional Factorial Design with Many Factors 96


3.5.1. Placket-Burman Designs 96
x Contents

3.5.2. 2
 III15-11 Example: Case Study on Angular Rigidity of Automotive
Side Door Hinges 97
3.5.3. 2III 16-11
Example: Case Study on Sealing Tire Air 102

References110
Problems111

CHAPTER 4

General Factorial Design LK-P 115


4.1. RSM and F-Distribution 115
4.1.1. H
 igh-Level Factorial Design 116
4.1.2. F-Distribution 116
4.2. ANOVA for LK Design 119
4.2.1. I1J1M1 Design and 33 Design 119
4.2.2. Null Hypothesis and F-Test 125
4.2.3. C
 oded Variables for Three-Level Factorial Designs 126
4.2.4. 33 Example—Pull Strength of Seat-Belt Knuckle 127
4.2.5. 3K Design 129

4.3. Predictive Equation by Multifactorial DOE Regression 130


4.3.1. ANOVA and Regression 130
 east-Squares Regression for ANOVA with 3 Factor Design
4.3.2. L 3
130
4.3.3. Decomposition of Interactions in Factorial Design 33 134

4.4. Generic Concept of Multiple Linear Regression 136


4.4.1. Response Surface Regression by Linear and Quadratic Terms 140
4.4.2. E
 xample: Case Study on Shrinkage of Optical-Fiber Cable (Continued
from Section 3.3.2) 140
4.5. Checking Adequacy of Predictive Equations by Regression 142
4.5.1. C
 orrelation and Adjusted Correlation 143
4.5.2. Checking Lack of Fit 144
4.6. Product Variability, Process Capability, and Gage R&R 145
4.6.1. Measured Variability 146
4.6.2. Process Capability Indices 147
4.6.3. Sample Size Determination for the Estimation of PCIs 149
4.6.4. A
 NOVA for Two Factors 150
4.6.5. G
 age R&R Based on ANOVA 152
4.7. Fractional Factorial Design with Three Levels 155
4.7.1. Interactions in 3K and 3K-P Factorial Designs 156
4.7.2. 3III 3-1
157
4.7.3. 3IV4-1 158
Contents xi

4.7.4. 3III4-2 160


4.7.5. 3III 5-2
161
4.7.6. 3III9-6 162
4.7.7. 3III11-8 163
4.7.8. 3III13-10 165

4.8. DOE with Definitely Known Inferential Mechanisms 165


4.8.1. R
 egression Based on Second-Ordered Response Surface Model 167
4.8.2. R
 egression Based on Observance of Inferential Mechanism 170
References171
Problems172

CHAPTER 5

Composite Designs 175


5.1. Composite Factorial Designs 175
5.2. Central Composite Designs 176
5.2.1. Face-Centered Design (FCD) 177
5.2.2. Spherical Composite Design-Circumscribed (SCD-C) 178
5.2.3. S
 pherical Composite Design-Inscribed (SCD-I) 181
5.2.4. S
 tudy on Warpage of Injection-Molded Plastics Using Spherical
Composite Design 181
5.2.5. Between-Face-and-Spherical CD 183
5.2.6. Box-Behnken Design 183
5.2.7. Small CD 185
5.2.8. Incomplete Small CD 186
5.3. Design with Mixed Two-Level and Three-Level Factors 186
5.3.1. 2 ×3
1 1
186
5.3.2. 21×37-5 (L18) with Resolution III 187
5.3.3. 2 11-9
×3 12-10
(L36) with Resolution III 188
5.3.4. O
 rthogonal Array CD (OACD) 189
5.4. Design with Mixed Two-Level and Four-Level Factors 192
5.4.1. 41x22 (Full-Factorial Design) 192
5.4.2. (4 ×2 )IV
1 3
193
5.4.3. (42×23)IV 194
5.4.4. (41×24)III 195
5.4.5. 44-2IV with Example on Voiding on Ball Grid Arrays 196

5.5. Reliability and Confidence Level 197


5.5.1. Confidence Interval 198
5.5.2. S
 ampling CI in t-Distribution 198
5.5.3. C
 I of Sample Population by DOE-F 200
xii Contents

5.5.4. CI of Sample Population by DOE-F with Confirmation Runs 200


5.5.5. Factorial Design 2 ×3
1 7-5
(L18) for Designing Magneto-Rheological Dampers 200

5.6. Identification of Statistic Distribution 205


5.6.1. B
 ootstrap Plot for a Statistic 205
5.6.2. Bootstrap Plot of Model-Averaged CIs for a DOE-t 208
5.6.3. Identification of Statistical Distribution by Parametric Method Using Minitab 208
5.7. Nested Design 210
5.7.1. T
 wo-Stage Nested Design: B Nested in A 210
5.7.2. Three-Stage Nested Design: B Nested in A and C Nested in B 215
5.7.3. Predictive Equation for Nested Designs 219
5.8. Crossed Design 219
References219
Problems221

CHAPTER 6

Optimal Designs 223


6.1. Information-Based Optimality 223
6.1.1. Information Matrix and Maximum Likelihood Method 224
6.1.2. Opportunities to Use Optimal Designs 227
6.1.3. H
 ow to Select the Optimal Design 227
6.1.4. C
 omparison of Different Optimal Designs 227
6.1.5. R
 esidual Maximum Likelihood (REML) 228
6.2. D-Optimality 228
6.2.1. D
 -Optimal Design for Linear Regression Model 228
6.2.2. D-Optimal Design for Quadratic Regression with Constraints 234
6.2.3. D
 -Optimal Design with Block Factors 235
6.2.4. D-Optimal Design for Nonlinear Regression Models 238
6.3. A-Optimality 238
6.4. I-Optimal Design and FDS Plots 239
6.4.1. I-Efficiency 239
6.4.2. FDS Plots 239
6.4.3. I-Optimality versus D-Optimality 241
6.5. G-Optimal Design 244
6.6. Construction of Optimal Experimental
Designs244
6.6.1. Balance and Orthogonality of Optimal Experimental Designs 244
6.6.2. Construction Algorithms 245
6.6.3. Generating an Optimal Design Using Commercial Codes 245
Contents xiii

6.7. Statistical Power Evaluation of Experimental Designs 245


6.7.1. Operating Characteristic Curve 246
6.7.2. Statistical Power 246
6.7.3. Statistical Power of Parametric Estimation in DOE 247
6.7.4. Noncentrality Parameter 247
6.7.5. Noncentrality Parameters Based on ANOVA 248
6.7.6. Noncentrality Parameters for a Two-Level Factorial Design 249
6.7.7. Statistical Power Evaluation for D-Optimal Design 250
6.8. Definitive Screening Designs 253
6.8.1. D
 efinitive Screening Design Matrices 253
6.8.2. Conference Matrix 255
6.8.3. Room for Improvement 256
6.8.4. D
 SD with Added Two-Level Categorical Factors 256
6.9. Pareto Optimality 256
6.9.1. Pareto Frontier 257
6.9.2. Pareto Efficiency 258
6.9.3. Marginal Rate of Substitution and Utility Function 259
6.10. Multiobjective Optimization Based on DOE 262
6.10.1. M
 ultiobjective PSO with Pareto Optimality 262
6.10.2. Example Problem for PSO with Pareto Optimality 265
6.10.3. E
 volutionary Multiobjective Design with Pareto Optimality 269
6.10.4. Gray Relational Analysis 269
6.11. Distance-Based Optimality 269
6.11.1. U
 -Optimality in Euclidean Space 270
6.11.2. Distance-Based Maximum Likelihood Estimation 271
6.11.3. S-Optimality 273
6.11.4. Distance-Based Measurements for Autonomous Vehicles 273
6.12. Time-Based Optimality 275
6.12.1. T
 ime-Based Optimality for Cost Function of Charging
Plug-in Electric Vehicles 275
6.12.2. Time-Based Optimality for Profit Function of Charging PEVs 279
6.12.3. Just-in-Time Strategy for Production Workflow 280
6.12.4. T
 ime-Efficient Optimal Torque Split Strategy for Electric Vehicles with
Multiple Motors 280
6.13. Topological Optimization 280
6.13.1. E
 volutionary Design Change by Finite Element Methods (FEM) 282
6.13.2. Shape Design by Pareto Optimality Based on DOE 284
6.13.3. Robust Design of Iosipescu Shear Test Specimen for Composites 288
6.14. Dynamic Optimization 292
6.14.1. E
 xplicit FEM and Material Behaviors with Dynamic Strain Flow 293
xiv Contents

6.14.2. Dynamic Strain Flow 293


6.14.3. Crashworthiness of a Vehicular Structure 294
6.14.4. Design Optimization of S-Frames to Improve Crashworthiness 298
6.14.5. P
 areto Frontier—Automotive Ride Comfort versus Road Holding Capability 299
References301
Problems306

Bibliography: Books 311


Index317
About the Authors 323
Preface

This is a book about product design for reliability and sustainability via the design of experiments. It is an
application-oriented text with an emphasis on deploying the design of experiments for product reliability
growth throughout an enterprise as a “statistical thinking” tool, instead of focusing on a specific statistical
approach to designing experiments. Emphasis is laid on how to grow product reliability using the design of
experiments. Product reliability growth via process improvements and system optimizations is demonstrated
using real-world examples, mostly extracted from common practices in automotive engineering. Theoretical
concepts that are important to the understanding of the design of experiments are rephrased in
practical exercises.
Product development efforts are concurrently focused on a product configuration at the lowest feasible
cost by means of a thorough understanding of its functionality, reliability and sustainability, while today’s
central theme for proactive improvement calls for building high reliability into products. It is imperative to
avoid field failures during a product’s estimated lifetime in service, which consequently leads to delighted
customers and elimination of the high expense of repairing failed goods and fixing underlying causes. Henry
Ford said, “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” Product reliability
growth is in a perpetual motion, but intellectual vitality rolls with us in light of the design of experiments.
Much of the challenge and opportunity in engineering design comes from stochastic material properties
and manufacturing processes in nature. “A large safety factor does not necessarily translate into a reliable
product. Instead, it often leads to an overdesigned product with reliability problems,” as addressed in the
article “Failure Analysis Beats Murphy’s Law,” Mechanical Engineering (September 1993). On problem solving,
a thinker is encouraged to poise oneself on the understanding of physics of failure that is related to exploiting
distinguished product properties and characterizing specific identifiable variables and attributes. Drawing
on their extensive product development experience, the authors present a comprehensive process for ensuring
product performance and reliability over the entire lifecycle.
We hope this will be a comprehensive textbook of applied design of experiments for product reliability
growth and a reference manual for practicing engineers in various functional areas of product-oriented
business, including research, design, testing, manufacturing, operation, supplier quality assurance, marketing,
and warranty analysis. While lessons hereby learned from the book can be appropriated for product develop-
ment in the real world, comments and suggestions are motivated for further improvements.

Young J. Chiang, PhD


会而必议 议而必决 决而必行 行而必果

© 2023 SAE International xv


Acronyms

AAI - Appearance Approval Inspection


AALA - American Association for Laboratory Accreditation
AAR - Appearance Approval Report
ADV - Analysis/Development/Validation (GM Specific)
AIAG - Automotive Industry Action Group
AIQ - Average Incoming Quality; Average quality level before inspection
ALT - Accelerated Life Testing
ANCOVA - Analysis of Covariance
ANN - Artificial Neural Network
ANOM - Analysis of Means
ANOVA - Analysis of Variance
AOQ - Average Outgoing Quality; Average quality level leaving the inspection point after rejection and
acceptance of a number of lots
AOQL - Average Outgoing Quality Limit-Maximum value of the AOQ
AOZ - Accept on Zero
AP - Advanced Product
APQP - Advanced Product Quality Planning
AQC - Attribute Quality Characteristic
AQL - Acceptable Quality Level
AQP - Advanced Quality Planning
ARIMA - Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average
ARL - Averaged Run Length
ARMA - Autoregressive Moving Average
ASIL - Automotive Safety Integrity Level
ASME - American Society of Mechanical Engineers
ASQ - American Society of Quality
ASTM - American Society for Testing and Materials
AVL - Approved Vendor List
A2LA - American Association of Laboratory Accreditation
BCWP - Budgeted Cost of Work Performed
BCWS - Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled
Acronyms xvii

BDD - Binary Decision Diagram


BEV - Battery Electric Vehicles
BIT (BIST) - Built-in Test (Built-in Self-Test), as part of Testability Analysis
BJT - Bipolar Junction Transistors
BLDC - Brushless Direct Current
BOM - Bill of Material
BPI - Business Performance Improvement
B7 (Q7) - Basic 7 QC Tools, i.e. Fishbone Diagram, Histogram, Pareto Analysis, Flowchart, Scatter Plot, Run
Chart, and Control Chart
CA - Corrective Actions
CAAM - China Association of Automobile Manufacturers
CAD - Computer-aided Design
CAE - Computer-aided Engineering
CAM - Computer-aided Manufacturing
CAPA - Corrective and Preventive Action
CBP - Customer Benefits Package; Tangibles & Intangibles Make Up a Service
CC - Critical Characteristic
CCD - Central Composite Design
CCPM - Critical Chain Project Management
c-Chart - Count Chart-Attribute Quality Control Chart for Number of Defects
CDF - Cumulative Distribution Function
CF - Carbon Fiber
CFT - Cross Functional Team
CI - Confidence Interval
CIP - Continuous Improvement Process
CLT - Central Limit Theorem
CMM - Coordinate Measuring Machine
CMM - Capability Maturity Model
CONC - Cost of Non-conformance
COP - Customer-Oriented Process
COQ - Cost of Quality
COR - Cost of Reliability
CPM - Critical Path Method, either PERT or Gantt Chart
CPP - Critical Process Parameter
CPPD - Collaborative Product Process Design
CPV - Cost per Vehicle
CQI - Continuous Quality Improvement
CQM - ASQ Certified Quality Manager
CRD - Completely Random Design
xviii Acronyms

CRM - Customer Relationship Management


CRS - Constant Returns to Scale
CS1 - Control Shipping 1
CS2 - Control Shipping 2
CTQ - Critical-to-Quality
CUSUM - Cumulative Sum Charting
CV - Coefficient of Variation
DCO - Document Change Order
DCP - Dimensional Control Plan
DCP - Dynamic Control Plan (Ford)
DDDM - Degradation-Data-Driven Method
DEA - Data Envelopment Analysis
DETMAX - Determinant Maximizing Algorithm, i.e. D-Optimal
DFA - Design for Assembly
DFM - Design for Manufacture
DFMA - Design for Manufacture and Assembly
DMAIC - Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control (Kaizen- 5 Steps)
DOC - Depth of Charge
DOE - Design of Experiments
DOE-E - Design of Experiments Based on Exponential Distribution
DOE-F - Design of Experiments Based on F Distribution
DOE-ln - Design of Experiments Based on Lognormal Distribution
DOE-t - Design of Experiments Based on t-Distribution
DOE-W - Design of Experiments Based on Weibull Distribution
DOE+ML - Design of Experiments and Machine Learning, Joint Application of
DRACAS - Data Reporting Analysis and Corrective Action System
DF or DOF - Degree of Freedom
DFMEA - Design Failure Modes and Effect Analysis
DMADV - Define, Measure, Analyze, Design, Verification
DMU - Design Making Unit
DRACAS - Data Reporting Analysis and Corrective Action System
DRF - Datum Reference Frame
DSC - Dynamic Stability Control
DSD - Definitive Screening Designs
DVP&R - Design Verification Plan and Report
ECFA - Event and Causal Factor Analysis
ECN - Engineering Change Notice
ECR - Engineering Change Request
EMI - Electromagnetic Interference
Acronyms xix

EMOO - Evolutionary Multi-Objective Optimization


EMS - Expected Means Squares
ERP - Enterprise Resource Planning
ES - Engineering Specification
ES - Earned Schedule
ESD - Electrochemical Storage Devices
ESS - Environmental Stress Screening
EV - Electric Vehicle
EVM - Earned Value Management
EVOP - Evolutionary Operation Process
EWMA - Exponentially Weighted Moving Average
EWMV - Exponentially Weighted Moving Variance
EWS - Early Warning System
Exp, exp, e - Exponential Function
FAI - First Article Inspection or Final Acceptance Inspection
FAST - Function Analysis System Technique Diagram
FDI - Fault Detection and Isolation
FDM - Fused Deposition Modeling
FEA - Finite Element Analysis
FEM - Finite Element Methods
FFA - Functional Failure Analysis
FFF - Fused Filament Fabrication
FHA - Functional Hazard Analysis
FIFO - First in First Out
FIM - Fisher Information Matrix
FIR - Fast Initial Response
FMEA - Failure Modes and Effect Analysis
FMECA - Failure Modes, Effect, and Criticality Analysis
FMEDA - Failure Modes, Effects, and Diagnostics Analysis
FMVT - Failure Mode Verification Test
FOZ - Feature-of-Size
FPGA - Field Programmable Gate Array
FQPR - Field Quality Problem Report
FRACAS - Failure Reporting, Analysis, and Corrective Action System
FRB - Failure Review Board
FSLT - Full System Life Test
FSR - Functional Safety Requirement
FTA - Fault Tree Analysis
FTC - First Time Capability
xx Acronyms

DOE-F - F Distribution-Based Design of Experiments


GA - Genetic Algorithm
Gage R&R - Gage Repeatability and Reproducibility
GaN - Gallium Nitride
GD&T - Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing
GD3 - Good Design, Good Discussion, Good Dissection
GERT - Graphic Evaluation and Review Technique
GF - Glass Fiber
GK - General Knowledge
GPa - Gega Pascal
GPC - Gage Performance Curve
GR - Gage Repeatability
GR&R; GRR - Gage Repeatability and Reproducibility
GTD - Getting Things Done
GTO - Gate Turn-off Thyristor
GVDP - Global Vehicle Development Process, a GM Practice
HACCP - Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points
HARA - Hazard Analysis and Risk Assessment
HALT - Highly Accelerated Life Test
HASS - Highly Accelerated Stress Screening
HAZOP - Hazard and Operability Study
HCF - High Cycle Fatigue
HEV - Hybrid Electric Vehicle
HFCV - Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle
Ho - Null Hypothesis
H1 - Alternative Hypothesis
IATF - International Automotive Task Force
IC - Integrated Circuit
IDOV - Identify, Design, Optimize, Validate
IEEE - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
IGBT - Insulated-Gate Bipolar Transistor
IGCT - Integrated Gate Commutated Thyristor
iid - Independent and Identically Distributed
IM - Induction Motor
IMDS - International Material Data System
IMP - Integrated Master Program
IPMA - International Project Management Association
ISIR - Initial Sample Inspection Report, e.g., PPAP Warrant and Inspection Report
ISO - International Organization for Standardization
Acronyms xxi

IsoPlot - 3-D Iso-surface Plot


ITPV - Incidents per Thousand Vehicles
JIT - Just in Time
KAIZEN - Change for the Better
KBF - Key Business Factors
KCC - Key Control Characteristic
KISS - Keep it Simple, Stupid
KLT - Key Life Tests
KPC - Key Product Characteristic
KPI - Key Product (Process) Indicator or Key Performance Index
LCF - Low Cycle Fatigue
LCL - Lower Control Limit
Lidars - Laser Light Detection and Ranging Systems
Li-air - Lithium-Air (Battery)
Li-ion - Lithium-Ion (Battery)
LMC - Least Material Condition
LN, Ln, or ln - Lognormal
LRP - Logistics Requirement Plan
LRU - Line Replaceable Unit
LSL - Lower Specified Limit
LSM - Linear Scheduling Method
LTBF - Longest Time between Failures
LTPD - Lot Tolerance Percentage Defective Acceptable in Production Lots
M&TE - Measurement and Test Equipment
MBD - Management by Decree
MCO - Manufacturing Change Order
MEOST - Multiple Environment Over Stress Tests
MILTFP-41 - Make it Like the Finished Print- For Once
ML - Machine Learning
MLE - Maximum Likelihood Estimator
MMC - Maximum Material Condition
MME - Method of Moments Estimator
MRR - Median Rank Regression
MOPSO - Multi-Objective Particle Swarm Optimization
MOSFET - Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor
MORT - Management Oversight and Risk Tree
MPa - Mega Pascal
MRS - Marginal Rate of Substitution
MSE - Mean Squared Error
xxii Acronyms

MTS - Make to Stock


MTTF - Mean Time to Failure
MTBF - Mean Time between Failures
MTTR - Mean Time to Repair
MVBs - Manufacturing Validation Build Saleable (GM)
NCP - Non-Conforming Products
NCR - Non-Conformance Report
NDT - Non-Destructive Test
NIST - National Institute of Standards and Technology, Dept. of Commerce, USA
NPI - New Product Introduction
np-chart - Attribute Quality Control Chart for Number of Defective Products
NTF - No Trouble Found
NTSA - National Transportation Safety Administration, Dept. of Transportation, USA
N2 - An Interface Matrix, Representing Interfaces between System Elements
N7 - New 7 QC Tools (Affinity Diagram/Brainstorming, Relation Diagram, Tree Diagram, Matrix
Diagram/QFD, Arrow Diagram/PERT, Process Decision Chart, and Matrix Data Analysis/Principal
Component Analysis)
OACD - Orthogonal-Array Composite Designs
O&SHA - Operational and Support Hazard Analysis
OC Curve - Operating Characteristic Curve
OCV - Open Circuit Voltage
OEE - Overall Equipment Effectiveness
OEM - Original Equipment Manufacturer
OVAT - One Variable at a Time
PAA - Product Application Agreement
PAT - Process Analytic Technology
PBS - Product Breakdown Structure
P-chart - Attribute Quality Control Chart for Proportion of Nonconforming Units
P-Diagram - Parameter Diagram
PCA - Permanent Corrective Actions
PCB - Printed Circuit Board
PCBA - Printed Circuit Board Assembly
PCI - Process Capability Index (Indices)
PCP - Production Control Plan
PDAS - Plan-Do-Study-Action
PDF - Probability Density Function
P-Diagram - Parameter Diagram
PDCA - Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle
PDF - Probability Density Function
PDF, pdf - Probability Density Function
PDM - Product Data Management
Acronyms xxiii

PDPC - Process Decisions Program Chart


PDPC - Process Decision Program Chart
PERT - Program Evaluation and Review Technique
PFD - Process Flow Diagram
PFMEA - Process Failure Modes and Effect Analysis
PHR - Part Handling Review
PL - Product Line
PLM - Product Life Management
PMA - Program Management Administration
PMBoK - Project Management Body of Knowledge
PMI - Project Management Institute
PMSM - Permanent Magnet Synchronized Motor
PMO - Preventive (or Planned) Maintenance Optimization
Poka Yoke - Mistake Proofing; Fool Proofing
POSEC - Prioritize by Organizing, Streamlining, Economizing, and Contributing
PPAC - Product Performance Agreement Center
PPAP - Production Part Approval Process
PPC - Production Planning and Control
PPHR - Parts per Hundred Rubber Parts
PPM - Parts per Million
PPV - Product and Process Validation
PQP - Product Quality Planning
PQRR - Program Quality Readiness Review (GM)
PRR - Problem Reporting and Resolution
PSO - Particle Swarm Optimization
PSS - Passive Safety Systems
PSW - Part Submission Warrant
PV - Part-to-Part Variation
PWM - Pulse Width Modulation
QA - Quality Assurance
QALT - Quantitative Accelerated Life Test
QbD - Quality by Design
QC - Quality Control
QC - Quality Circles
QCC - Quality Control Circle
QCCAR - Quality Control Corrective Action Request
QFD - Quality Function Deployment
QIP - Quality Improvement Program
QIT - Quality Improvement Team
QL - Quality Lever
xxiv Acronyms

QLS - Quality Loss Function or Quadratic Loss Function


QMD - Quality Measurement Data
QMS - Quality Management System
QSA - Quality System Assessment
QSB - Quality System Basics
QS 9000 - Quality System Requirements 9000
QSR - Quality System Requirements or Quality Service Reviews
QVR - Quality Verification Report
Q1 - Ford Q1, considered worldwide as an indication of exceptional quality
R, Radj, Rpred - Regression, adjusted, and predictive correlations, respectively
R&C - Reliability and Confidence Level; e.g., A combination of R ≥ 95% and C = 75% means that someone
is 75% Confident that Reliability ≥ 95%
RBD - Reliability Block Diagram
RCA - Root Cause Analysis
RDT - Reliability Demonstration Test
R-chart - Chart Used to Monitor the Dispersion of a Process
RCDQ - Reactive Customer-Driven Quality
RCL - Robustness Checklist
RCM - Reliability-Centered Maintenance
RDM - Reliability Demonstration Matrix
Red X - Primary Cause
REML - Residual Maximum Likelihood
RFD - Reliability Function Deployment
RFQ - Request for Quotation
RFS - Regardless of Feature Size
RFT - Right First Time
RG - Reliability Growth
RGCA - Reliability Growth Cause Analysis
RMA - Return Material Analysis
ROCOF - Rate of Occurrence of Failures
RoHS - Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive 2002/95/EC
ROI - Return on Investment
RPN - Risk Priority Number; 1 ≤ RPN ≤ 1000
RQL - Rejectable Quality Level
RQT - Reliability Qualification Tests
RSM - Response Surface Method
RSS - Root Mean Squared
R@R - Run at Rate (GM)
RDOE - Reliability Design of Experiments
Acronyms xxv

SAE - Society of Automotive Engineers


SASIG - Strategic Automotive product data Standards Integration Group
SBU - Strategic Business Unit
S Chart - Control Chart for Standard Deviations
SCM - Supply Chain Management
SEV - Smallest Extreme Value
SFDC - Shop Floor Data Collection
SFMEA - System Failure Mode and Effects Analysis
SiC - Silicon Carbide
SIF - Stress Intensity Factor
SLA - Supplier Launch Audit (GM Terminology)
SLM - Ship Logistic Management
SLS - Selective Laser Sintering
SMED - Single Minute Exchange of Die for flexible manufacturing
SoC - State of Charge (Batteries)
SOP - Start of Production
SOP - Standard Operating Procedure
SOTIF - Safety of the Intended Functionality
SPC - Statistical Process Control
SPOF - Single Point of Failure
SQA - Supplier Quality Assurance
SQE - Supplier Quality Engineer or Supplier Quality Engineering
SQIP - Supplier Quality Improvement Program
SORP - Start of Regular Production
SS (6-Sigma) - Six-Sigma
STBF - Shortest Time between Failures
Supplier CR - Supplier Customer Readiness
SVHC - Substances of Very High Concern
SWIP3E - Standard, Workpiece, Instrument, Person/Procedure/Policy, and Environment
Six Essential Elements of a Generalized Measuring System
SWOT - Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT Analysis)
TAAF - Test, Analyze, And Fix
TBD - To Be Decided or To Be Determined
TCO - Total Cost of Ownership
TE - Tooling and Equipment Certification
TAAT - Test-Analyze-And-Fix
TGR - Things Gone Right
TGW - Things Gone Wrong
TNI - Trouble Not Identified
xxvi Acronyms

TOP - Time Optimized Process


TOPS - Team Oriented Problem Solving (Ford Motor Company)
TPM - Total Productive Maintenance
TPMS - Triply Periodic Minimal Surfaces
TQM - Total Quality Management
TRIZ - Russian, i.e. Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TIPS)
TV - Total Variation
TWI - Training within Industry
UCL - Upper Control Limit
UCS - Ultimate Compressive Strength
USL - Upper Specified Limit
UTS - Ultimate Tensile Strength
u-chart - Attribute Quality Control Chart for Frequency of Defects
VDA6.3 - Verband der Automobilindustrie (German); Automotive Quality Management System Process Audit
VEVA - Value Engineering and Value Analysis
VIF - Variance Inflation Factor
VMEA - Variation Mode and Effect Analysis
VOC - Voice of Customer
VRS - Variable Returns to Scale
VSM - Value Stream Mapping
WBS - Work Breakdown Structure
2R k-p - 2-level fractional factorial design having k variables with resolution R
3R k-p - 3-level fractional factorial design having k variables with resolution R
3 Spheres - Quality Management, Assurance, and Control
3T’s - Task, Treatment, and Tangibles in Service Design
360° Evaluation - Evaluating Performance with inputs from supervisors, peers, & other employees
4P - People, Place, Procedure, and Policies
4S - Surroundings, Suppliers, Systems, and Skills
5M - Manpower, Machine, Method, Material, and Measurement
5R - Responsiveness, Reliability, Rhythm, Responsibility, and Relevance
5S - Select/Sort, Straighten/Set in Place, Shine, Standardize, and Sustain (Sources of Variation)
5w2h - Who, What, When, Where, Why, How, and How Much
6M - Manpower, Machine, Method, Material, Measurement, and Mother Nature
6S - Select, Set in Place, Shine, Standardize, Sustain, and Safe
7P - Proper Prior Planning Prevents Pitifully Poor Performance
7 Factors - Team, Provider, Patience, Task, Work environment, Equipment & Technology, and Organization
& Management
7 Wastes -  O ver-production, Transport, Waiting, Inventory, Defects, Over-Processing, and
Unnecessary Movement
8D - 8 Disciplines for Structured Step-by-Step Problem Solving
80/20 Rule - 80% of the Problems Resulting from 20% of the Causes
Nomenclature

A, B, C, … Design factors
a, b, c, … Coded variables
C Confidence level
Cb Battery capacity
Cp Process capability index, usually for symmetric distribution;
two-sided
Cpk Process capability index, usually for skewed distribution;
one-sided
CPm Process capability index, a departure of mean μ away from
process target
[C] Conference matrix
[D] Design matrix
Dc Depth of charge
E (GPa) Modulus of elasticity or Young’s modulus (Mechanics)
E11, E22, E33 (GPa) Moduli of elasticity, namely Young’s moduli, for
orthotropic materials
ET (GPa) Tensile modulus of elasticity
E[ ] Expected value
F F distribution
F (N) Force (Newton)
f( ) Function of ( )
G (GPa) Shear modulus of elasticity
G23, G31, G12 (GPa) Shear moduli of elasticity for orthotropic materials
H, h, hr Hour
HV (kgf/mm2, GPa) Vickers hardness: rectangular pyramidal indenter
Izod (kJ/m2 or J/m2) Izod notched impact strength at 23 °C (ISO 180/1A)
[I] Information matrix or Fisher information matrix
L( ) Likelihood
Lln( ) Likelihood of natural-Log transformed data
Ln( ) or ln( ) Natural-Logarithmic transformation of ( )
Log( ) or log( ) Logarithmic transformation of ( )
LR Likelihood ratio

xxvii
xxviii Nomenclature

Pp Process performance
Ppk Process performance index for a stable process
R Reliability
R Resistance, electric
R Model correlation, e.g., regression model
Radj Adjusted model correlation
Rpred Predictive correlation, based on predicted values
Ra (μm) Surface roughness- average
Rrms (μm) Surface roughness- root Mean Squared (rms)
R z (μm) Surface roughness- maximum
Sh State of health
SS Sum of squares
T (°C), Temp (°C) Temperature in °C
Tk (°K) Temperature in °K
T (Ton) Mass for mm-sec-ton system
t t-distribution (Student t-distribution)
t (sec) Time
S Sample standard deviation or sample error
Sc State of charge
S2 Sample variance
u, v, w (m; mm) Displacements in x, y, and z directions, respectively
V Volts
(X, Y, Z), (x, y, z) Cartesian coordinate system
Y Response or objective function
Yp Predicted value for Y
α p-value
α (μm/m/°C) Coefficient of linear thermal expansion; ⊥ and // to mold or casting flow
α x, αy, αz (μm/m/°C) Coefficients of linear thermal expansion in x-, y-, and z-directions
α1, α2, α 3 (μm/m/°C) Coefficients of linear thermal expansion in 1-, 2-, and 3-directions
β Coefficients of linear moisture expansion
βx, βy, βz Coefficients of linear moisture expansion in x-, y-, and z-directions
β1, β2, β3 Coefficients of linear moisture expansion in 1-, 2-, and 3-directions
ε Residual
ε Strain
εCreep Creep rupture strain
εe & εe Elastic strain
εp & εp Plastic strain
εeq Equivalent strain
εeqp Equivalent plastic strain
Nomenclature xxix

εxx, εyy, εzz Normal strains


εyz, εzx, εxy Shear strains
εucs Ultimate compressive strain
εuts Ultimate tensile strain
ε1, ε2, ε3 Principal strains
ε11, ε22, ε33 Normal strains defined in the (1, 2, 3) coordinate system
ε23, ε31, ε12 Shear strains (tensor) defined in the (1, 2, 3) coordinate system
ε11c, ε22c, ε33c Ultimate compressive strains along the primary orthotropic material axes
ε11t, ε22t, ε33t Ultimate tensile strains along the primary orthotropic material axes
ε23u, ε31u, ε12u Ultimate shear strains in primary orthotropic material coordinates (1, 2, 3)
μ Mean
ρ, ρf, ρm (g/cm ) 3
Density (overall), density of fiber, and density of matrix, respectively
σ Standard deviation
σ (MPa) Stress
σeq (MPa) Equivalent stress, e.g., von Mises stress
σf (MPa) Fatigue limit, also called endurance limit
σf ’ (MPa) Fatigue strength coefficient
σuts (MPa) Ultimate tensile strength
σucs (MPa) Ultimate compressive strength
σ xx, σ yy, σzz (MPa) Normal stresses
σ xy, σ yz, σzx (MPa) Shear stresses
σ y, σ 0.2% (MPa) Yield strength, i.e., stress at 0.2% (tensile) or -0.2% (compressive) strain σYC (MPa)
Yield strengths in compression
σYT (MPa) Yield strengths in tension
σ1, σ2, σ3 (MPa) Principal stresses
σ 2
Variance
τ, τ yz, τzx, τxy (MPa) Shear stresses
ν Degrees of freedom
χ2 Chi-square distribution
Introduction

Design of experiment (DOE) is the most promising tool to identify influential factors (e.g., dimensions,
parameters, and concepts) and consequentially implement corrective actions for product reliability growth.
In the process of product development, puzzling occasions that lead to good opportunities for applying the
design of experiments include:
(a) The relationship between the desired objective and design/process factors are not clear
(b) A good number of factors that need to be narrowed down to a few
(c) Product performance or product reliability is not meeting the functional requirement
(d) How to deal with an incomplete design when there is a lack of time and/or resources
(e) How to deal with multiple objective functions

The fundamental design of experiments presented in the first six chapters of the book (Volume I) is
intended to meet these needs.
Chapter 1: Basic prerequisites for deploying design of experiments, such as product reliability realization
process, uncertainty of measurement, unreliability and failure, concept of design for reliability, classification
of design of experiments, and commercial design of experiments software are presented. The technical skills
introduced in this chapter are intended to answer the following question: “How to identify the potential
design/process parameters for a given objective function amid a blaze of design of experiments?”
Chapter 2: Full factorial design 2K is often used in experimentation as a system identification tool to relate
an objective function to potential factors, especially for exploring an unfamiliar phenomenon. Both main
and interactive effects can be exploited using factorial design 2K. How to conduct a design of experiments
and a conceptual recognition of statistical significance based on t-distribution are introduced. The general-
ized procedure for conducting a study based on full factorial design 2K was demonstrated using the real-world
examples. As a screen design, full factorial design 2K is intended to answer the following question: “What are
the influential design/process factors when given a large number of potential factors that need to be narrowed
down to a few?”
Chapter 3: Fractional factorial design 2R K-P is often used in experimentation as an economical way to
relate an objective function to influential factors. It is frequently used as a screening design to identify signifi-
cant main effects and 2-factor interactions in a reduced number of experimental tests. As a screen design
with a great number of factors, fractional factorial design 2R K-P is intended to answer the question: “What is
the potential relationship between the objective function and design/process parameters?”
Chapter 4: General fractional factorial design LK-P based on F-distribution, is a statistical technique that
systematically determines which inputs have a significant impact on the output, when multiple design levels
are required to explore the nonlinear behavior. It is one of the response surface methods based on the fit of a
nonlinear polynomial equation to the experimental data. The concept of analysis of variance (ANOVA) and
its related formulations are deployed. Fractional factorial design LK-P is intended to answer two questions:
“What is the relationship between the objective function and design/process factors?” and subsequentially
“What is the optimal design configuration?”
Introduction xxxi

Chapter 5: Composite designs are the most widely used experimental design as a response surface method
because the additional star points (e.g., center points) can clear the main effects of aliasing with two-factor
interactions in a nonlinear model and unravel quadratic terms. These designs are particularly useful for
design optimization that contains only a few (3–5) factors for finalizing the decision. In a concise factorial
design, a composite design is intended to answer the following two questions: “What is the relationship
between the objective function and design/process factors?” and “What is the optimal design configuration?”
Chapter 6: Traditional balanced orthogonal experimental designs, i.e., design matrices presented in
Chapters 2–5, may not be available for every practical problem. For example, some treatments in a balanced
orthogonal design are not feasible. A “short” design of experiments, which is defined as the design with less
treatments required for meeting the conditions of a traditional balanced orthogonal one, may be applied
instead. In such a situation, an incomplete design matrix with a preferred approximating scheme via mini-
mizing the variance-covariance or predictive error, such as D-optimality, A-optimality, I-optimality (i.e.,
V-optimality), and G-optimality, can be applied. In such a handicap game, optimal designs are deployed to
answer three questions: “What is the relationship between the objective function and design/process factors
based on an incomplete design matrix?”, “What is the optimal design configuration?”, and “What would
be the optimal design configuration with multiple objective functions?”
1
Reliability Deployment

D
esign of experiments (DOE) is a disciplined application of statistical methods based on inferential
mechanisms (e.g., natural laws and polynomials) in pursuit of the desired reliability at a comfortable
confidence level. Design for reliability and sustainability is intrinsic to product development while
dependent on the choice of product architecture and robustness of execution in the process. The challenge
moving forward in the manufacturing industry is not who first provides the ultimate technology but who
best timely realizes that technology in a robust manner over time. Product reliability deployment throughout
an organization shall be planned as early as possible.

1.1. Product Reliability Realization


A robust system attempts to identify and prevent design and manufacturing issues in advance, especially
in the early development phase rather than have problems found in the hands of customers. Reliability
deployment is a process specifically designed toward achieving high and long-term reliability. The focus is
on finding and preventing problems—way more than completing forms and checklists. For example, a
vehicle “produced as designed” is never finished, so should the product evolvement continue even after it
is introduced in the market? To design it right, one has to establish design reliability requirements and

© 2023 SAE International 1


2 Fundamentals of Design of Experiments for Automotive Engineering: Volume I

develop a plan exhibiting how requirements are to be met. Both qualitative and quantitative analysis methods
and tools would be used to verify and validate if requirements are met in the long run [Safie 2010]. A design
for reliability (DFR) plan is a high-level plan that calls all the reliability tests, including design verification
tests, highly accelerated life tests, reliability demonstration tests, accelerated life tests, and ongoing
reliability tests.
Globalization, individualization, digitalization, and increasing competition are changing the face of
product reliability. The evolution, referred to as Industry 4.0 or the Fourth Industrial Revolution, challenges
product teams to react quickly and make behavioral predictions based on an enormous amount of feedback
information, especially in response to warranty data. Reliability calls for a firm system of total product life-
cycle management. Think on the global and act on the local. Modern development processes should be able
to convert local requirements into a global product definition, which is then rolled out locally again potentially
with part of the work being done in local affiliates.

1.1.1. Product Quality, Robustness, and Reliability


Product quality is a measure of the current state as delivered to the customer relative to an ideal state by
design when fulfilling the functional requirements of the product. The inherent product reliability, also
defined as product robustness over time, shall be primarily addressed in two aspects of quality—robust-
ness and reliability, respectively. Product robustness means that all functional requirements meet the
market needs and the operations are insensitive to environmental noises and product variability [Taguchi
1987], but product reliability means that the functional requirements are met over the specified product
lifetime with no failure. A robust product is insensitive to sources of variability while a reliable product
is insensitive to sources of variability over time. In other words, reliability is the ongoing index of
product performance.

1.1.2. Realization Process of Product Reliability


Product performance evolves over time because there is no one-to-one correlation of a product behavior to
a functional requirement. Failure calculations are based on complex models, which include factors using
specific system data such as material endurance, working temperature, environmental impacts, and applied
loads. All of these behave stochastically. The recognition of reliability strategy design and realization is
summarized as follows:

1. Reliability is science.
2. Reliability deployment starts at the stage of early conceptual design.
3. Reliability practice is integrated into the product development cycle.
4. How to meet functional requirements and achieve the reliability goal act hand in hand.

One reliability realization process is exhibited in Figure 1.1.1. Statistics and physics of failure run concur-
rently because a large safety factor does not necessarily translate into a reliable product. Instead, a design
with a large safety factor often leads to an overdesigned product with reliability problems. The overall plan
for product reliability, including the design, materials, product specifications, manufacturing plans, proce-
dures for manufacture and testing, quality assurance requirements, and labeling, shall bear record to the
product development, often called the reliability “Master Record.”
CHAPTER 1 Reliability Deployment 3

FIGURE 1.1.1 Reliability realization.


© SAE International.

1.1.3. Tools for Reliability Realization


As a product progresses as designed, an idea that unifies all functional requirements is the concept of failure.
Inventions are successful only to the extent that their creators properly anticipate how a device can fail to
perform as intended [Petroski 1996]. It is crucial to understand the relationship among process control,
component reliability, and system safety upfront in the design process. Historically, a variety of tools are
employed to accomplish reliability realization by overcoming failures. There is a clear distinction between
the goals and tools employed to assure quality versus those employed to analyze and improve reliability.
There is a significant contrast between the design for six sigma in quality engineering [Brue and Launsby
2003] and DFR in reliability engineering [Sadegh et al. 2006]. DFR is to exploit mainly the following
specific fields:
1. Physics of failure, e.g., iron in rust and pathological driving behaviors.
2. Failure analysis, e.g., life data analysis and statistical tolerance analysis.
3. Life-cycle tests and prediction, e.g., stepwise accelerated life test.
4. Manufacturing reliability, e.g., manufacturing techniques and processes.
5. Supply chain reliability, e.g., inventory control and supplier selection.
4 Fundamentals of Design of Experiments for Automotive Engineering: Volume I

6. Operational reliability, e.g., productive maintenance and autonomous driving.


7. Marketing reliability, e.g., warranty analysis and efficacy of advertisement.
8. Customer service conditions, e.g., usage, temperature, moisture, and degradation.

Activities in these fields prompt product reliability growth. Complementary tools available for growing
product reliability include the following analytical techniques:
1. Voice of the customer (VOC) [Griffin and Hauser 1993].
2. Flow-down analysis [Dick and Jones 2012].
3. Quality function deployment [Hauser and Clausing 1988, Morrell 1987].
4. Failure modes and effect analysis (FMEA) [AIAG 2011].
5. Design for assembly and manufacture (DFAM) [Boothroyd et al. 2010].
6. Product variability, process capability, and gauge reliability and reproducibility (R&R) [AIAG 2008].
7. Test and control plans [Grant and Leavenworth 2004].
8. Measurement system analysis (MSA) [AIAG 2010].
9. Inferential mechanisms including physical laws of failure [Chiang 2019].

As supported by these tools, DOE summarizes the overall product performance against potential failure
modes and has the final say about product reliability growth in the real world [Fisher 1925]. Experiments can
be based on physical tests [Thomke 2003] and/or virtual simulations [Chiang and Tang 1995, Santner
et al. 2018].

1.1.4. Advanced Reliability Planning


In a production endeavor, product reliability dominantly influences long-term business success. A product
that continues to function as intended throughout its life guarantees happy customers who provide repeat
business as well as referrals. A design and manufacturing company is strongly encouraged to initiate DFR
activities at the concept feasibility stage in light of concurrent engineering. The stringent necessity in meeting
today’s sophisticated customer demands makes DFR more significant and valuable than ever for the
following reasons:
(a) Product Differentiation: As automotive technology reaches maturity on many levels and the
automotive market gets saturated, there are fewer opportunities to set products apart from the
competition through traditional metrics (e.g., price, styling, and performance).
(b) Reliability Assurance: Each person needs a reliable vehicle, autonomous or not, to go to the
workplace. The limited powertrain lives for electrical vehicles, more pleasing interior systems,
sophisticated electronic modules, new component and material technologies, and less expensive
parts make ensuring the reliability goal increasingly difficult.
(c) Affordability: The major cost benefit of implementing an advanced reliability plan is to promote
early identification of required design, engineering, and manufacturing changes and thus avoid
expensive “late changes,” as shown in Figure 1.1.2. It eliminates redesign waste. Each part/assembly
must have credible sources that can deliver consistent reliability (quality over time) in the volume as
deliverable. The “rule of thumb” states that it may cost C times more to correct a major defect at the
next stage of product development, as described below:
CHAPTER 1 Reliability Deployment 5

Completion level Due cost of a corrective change


The part itself Y
At subsystem assembly CY
At final assembly C2Y
At the dealer/distributor C3Y
At the customer C4Y

where C is a constant that is greater than 1. Given that C = 10, a change after the product is introduced
into the market because of unreliability may cost as high as 1,000 times as much as a preventive change
at the research and development (R&D) stage.
(d) Preserving Profits: DFR helps products get to the market fast, preventing erosion of sales and market
share and securing the brand name.

An automotive product development process can be divided into eight stages as exhibited in Table 1.1.1.
An advanced product reliability goal must be built in the concurrent engineering—concurrently developing
products and related manufacturing and marketing processes.

FIGURE 1.1.2 Numbers of design and manufacturing changes with and without advanced planning.
© SAE International.

TABLE 1.1.1 Development process for automotive products.

Stage Readiness review and approval


1 Market Research and Idea Generation Idea Submission and Review
2 Conceptual Design and Feasibility Project Charter
3 Conceptual Development and Projects Business Plan
4 Product Design and Development Design Readiness and Development Plan
© SAE International.

5 Ramp-Up Final Check and Manufacturing Readiness


6 Launch and Production Start-Up Process Audit and Product Readiness
7 Production Market Readiness
8 Marketing Strategy Sales, Service, and Warranty
6 Fundamentals of Design of Experiments for Automotive Engineering: Volume I

Concurrent engineering hinges on contributions from multifunctional project teams in the product
development process. For example, the “Design Readiness and Development Plan” review at Stage 4 (Table
1.1.1) includes the completion of the following activities:

(a) Functional performance


(b) Design for reliability
(c) Design for manufacture
(d) Design for sourcing

Work tasks deployed in these activities rely very much on DOE. The goal is to simultaneously optimize
the product design against holistic reliability (Chapter 16, Volume IV), involving design factors, manufac-
turing variations, and latent variations in operation that may arise in the service environment. All these rely
on the early flow-down analysis, including determining parameters that are statistically significant, the
decomposition of system requirements of the product into requirements of subsystems and parts in an attempt
to identify resources in need, and assigning resources to meet the need [Dick and Jones 2012].

1.1.5. Reliability Lauded in VOC


VOC is a decent in-depth process of capturing the customer’s expectations, preferences, and even aversions
[Griffin and Hauser 1993]. Activities related to VOC conducted at the start of any new product, process, or
service design initiative provide a sound understanding of what the customer wants. A product leader is a
good listener. For example, over a battery-powered electric vehicle, a consumer is concerned with purchase
price (price differential relative to the gas-powered counterpart), limited range, speed of charge, battery life,
recharging infrastructure, safety concern about the electric system, crashworthiness, vehicle size, limited top
speed, and government incentive. A comparison between the VOC of Year 2015 potential buyers versus the
VOC of Year 2020 potential buyers of electric vehicles is charted in Figure 1.1.3 via customer experience
management analysis [Giffi et al. 2010]. It is quite clear that purchase price and reliability are the two leading
factors among the following nine operating factors: price, reliability, quality, charging convenience, perfor-
mance, utility, styling, resale/trade-in, and battery swapping. Therefore, the product development team shall
ensure that the reliability issues are mitigated and properly resolved.

FIGURE 1.1.3 VOC of factors driving the adoption of electric vehicles.


© SAE International.
CHAPTER 1 Reliability Deployment 7

1.1.6. P
 roduct Reliability Growth
Why do analysis and testing? The purpose is to examine a product to assure that it functions correctly and
exhibits the properties and capabilities that meet its functional requirements. Areas of unreliability are
exposed and corrective actions are made subsequently; thus, the product reliability will grow. A decrease in
unreliability due to corrective actions is called the effectiveness factor (EF) which varies from one failure
mode to another. As a measure of reliability growth, an EF of 80% means that a corrective action for a failure
mode removes approximately 80% of the failure intensity, but 20% remains in the system.
Product reliability growth is the process of collecting, modeling, analyzing, and synthesizing data from
reliability growth tests in the laboratory and analyses from the field. It aims at the improvement in product
reliability over time owing to continuous improvements, originating from the design and manufacturing
stages up to customers’ feedback. The important factors for an effective reliability growth program are
(a) Develop a strategic management plan of potential failure modes.
(b) Study the effectiveness of corrective actions to be taken.
(c) Do testing and analysis that provide opportunities to identify problems.
(d) Check if the root causes of problems are verified.
(e) Implement corrections and check if functional requirements are validated.
(f) Listen to the customer’s feedback (voice of the customer).

Testing and analysis to grow the product reliability are vital activities in the life cycle of a product. A
latent failure mode is a type of failure that may not occur until the system has operated in the field for a
certain period of time. For example, if the specifications for alignments, imbalances, electric motor circuit
phase impedances, lubricant and coolant conditions and cleanliness, and vibrations and noises are not justi-
fied at the design stage, the electric vehicle sold will have a significant number of latent defects in the customer’s
hands. Because it is difficult to predict latent failures, product developers are urged to do the reliability growth
management, starting from the R&D stage up to system maintenance and warranty services [Jin et al. 2010].
Nevertheless, it is now widely accepted that using designed experiments is the most effective way to grow
product reliability. The situation leads to the question “What is an effective strategy for implementing this
powerful tool?”

1.2. Uncertainty of Measurement


Measurement provides the fundamental basis for quantifying product performance, reliability, and sustain-
ability. How to make sense of measured results in terms of reliability and their corresponding confidence
level is essential to recognize the state of existence and quantify the potential influential factors [AIAG 2011].
Statistical methods applied to design for reliability and sustainability in measuring stochastic variables in
the real world are far more complicated than the deterministic engineering principles. To see is to believe.
A statistic is anything that can be computed from the collected data. Each data constitutes one degree
of freedom. For example, the mean of the measured data is a statistic with one degree of freedom (DOF).
Assuming that the sample mean (also called average) is calculated from the N data, then there are still N − 1
DOF for other statistics. Statistical inferences drawn from the measured data derived from reliability demon-
stration tests and accelerated validation tests turn are viable for product development and research.

1.2.1. Accuracy: Precision and Trueness


Measurement is defined as the means of assigning a numerical value or an attribute to a characteristic of an
object or event, which can be compared with other objects or events. The measurement of a property may
8 Fundamentals of Design of Experiments for Automotive Engineering: Volume I

be categorized by the following: characteristic (e.g., length), magnitude (e.g., 3.14156), unit (e.g., mm), and
uncertainty (e.g., ±1.2). A measurement system is generally characterized by its precision and trueness, thus
the resultant accuracy:
(a) Precision is the alias of dispersion, which indicates the “wide spread out” of the measured data, as
shown in Figure 1.2.1. The wider the spread out the worse the precision.
(b) Trueness refers to the difference between the measured average and the reference mean, which is the
deviation of the measured average relative to the theoretical value, as shown in Figure 1.2.1. Bias is
calculated in reference to trueness as:

(1.2.1)

Accuracy is the combined effect of precision and trueness. The accuracy is high if its corresponding bias
is zero and spread out is small.

FIGURE 1.2.1 Statistical meanings of accuracy, including spread out (precision) and bias (alias of trueness).

© SAE International.
The precision, including trueness and accuracy, of a measurement system is illustrated graphically in
Figure 1.2.2 . This is described in ISO 5725 which outlines the general principles to comply with regarding the
accuracy (trueness and precision) of measuring equipment. It is concerned exclusively with measurement
methods that work on a continuous scale and yield a single value as the test result. An accuracy of 100%
means that the measured value is exactly the same as the theoretical value. To determine if it is adequate for
the intended work tasks, a measurement system shall be assessed as follows:
(a) The measurement system must have discriminating readability and effective resolution over the
range of measurement and can endure environmental factors.
(b) The measurement system sensitivity, i.e., the smallest input signal can result in a discernable output
signal and must be guaranteed.
(c) The variability of the measurement system must be smaller than the production process variability
with an acceptable statistical significance level (e.g., reliability = 90% and confidence = 90%).
(d) The variability of the measurement system must also be smaller than the specification limits with an
acceptable statistical significance level.

If the statistical significance level is not available, one-tenth of the smaller of either the production process
variability or the specification limits shall be the maximum allowable variability of the measurement system.
CHAPTER 1 Reliability Deployment 9

FIGURE 1.2.2 Precision and trueness of a measurement system.


© SAE International.

1.2.2. Essential Elements of Measurement


Measurement plays such a significant role in verifying the conceptual design, validating the product and
process capabilities, and finalizing the product delivery. When a generalized measurement system is applied,
the following essential elements, namely, SWIP3E, constitute the major sources of variation in a
measuring process:
•• Standard: A standard shall poise itself on answering this question and provide an accepted basis
for comparison in the physical sense and criteria for sampling acceptance including the statistical
significance. Measurements that are traceable will agree closely to the same standard with a well-
bounded sample variance. Traceability is defined by [ISO 2020] as “The property of a measurement or
the value of a standard whereby it can be related to stated references, usually national or international
standards, through an unbroken chain of comparisons all having stated uncertainties.”
•• Workpiece (Part or Assembly): Which workpiece is to be measured and what type of characteristics
is to be measured? Both questions must be answered before doing any measurement. A workpiece
characteristic, such as surface roughness, may be formed suffering from a dislocation of the mean
value (biased average) and a wide dispersion of data (large sample standard deviation), an uneven
distribution (sample skewness), and displaced peakedness (kurtosis).
•• Instrument: The accuracy of measurement, also known as the theoretical value, is an objective real
value that reflects the characteristics of something under certain conditions of time and space.
With regard to the measurement facility, there is a certain deviation, more or less, between the
measured result and the accurate value. This deviation in terms of precision and trueness is often the
measurement error due to the applied equipment.
•• Person: To err is human. Errors of measurement may accidentally stem from human mistakes.
Getting bored with repetitive tasks, lack of training, and inattention to detail are also the root cause
of measurement errors.
•• Procedure: A procedure is developed to carry out the measurement based on a specific standard. It
includes fixture arrangement, part orientation, part preparation, transducer location, automated versus
manual, size, and expected range of conceived measurements. The measurement procedure has to
be settled in advance of actually making any measurement, including the updated work instruction
that is available at the machine operator’s convenience.
•• Policy: What purpose will the measured results be used for? When are the data needed? Who will
do the tests and are they well-trained to work in the testing environment? How to present the data,
especially to the customer? Company policy shall poise itself on answering these questions. Poor
decision-making is also the root cause of measurement errors.
•• Environment: Every measure is subject to environmental factors, including temperature, moisture,
dirt, debris, ambient air movement, electromagnetic interference, air contamination, vibration, noise,
and other laboratory conditions.
10 Fundamentals of Design of Experiments for Automotive Engineering: Volume I

A measurement system is anticipated to stay in a statistically stable condition, i.e., the variation of the
measurement system is merely subject to perceived common causes only. Common causes of defects should
be eliminated to improve product reliability. Any special causes, which are not quantifiable or previously
observed, shall be excluded, or corrected. The stability of a measurement system can be checked out using
statistical process control (SPC) charts.

1.3. Unreliability
Product unreliability is the state of not meeting the intended objective or expectations of customers. It refers
to the condition of being not reliable, untrustworthy, or undependable. Conventional wisdom has it that
unreliability (i.e., failure) rather than reliability is dealt with in reliability engineering. Statistically, unreli-
ability is a cumulative distribution function, and it can be expressed as:

of which R(t) is the reliability. Because the occurrence of a failure often appears stochastic, it is necessary to
conduct designed experimental tests to determine if there is a statistically significant trend. A failure mecha-
nism refers to the related physical or other process that leads to the failure. How to define a failure scientifically
is intrinsic to the product of interest.

1.3.1. Physical and Functional Failures


The definition of failure is a complex matter, and it constitutes another measurement uncertainty in the real
world. A failure mechanism may be addressed for one of the following observations:

(a) Physical Failure: The product has been physically damaged. For example, a part of the product
breaks. Parts are made of materials that are expected to work under the thermomechanical state in
their service environment [Chiang 2022]. Any fracture of a part is considered a failure by default. If a
broken part has no influence on the system functionality as designed, it should be spared from the
ordeal of appearing in the system.
(b) Functional Failure: The product fails to meet the functional requirement. Functional failure is the
inability of a system to meet a specified performance standard or to function at the level of
performance that has been specified as required. A failure mode is simply any event that causes a
functional failure. Note that each product (e.g., equipment for measuring the temperature and
relative humidity) often has multiple functions.
(c) Out of Specification: The product performance deviates from its normal state. When an operation
deviates from its normal state, process operators should start to check instruments and analyze the
process to find out the causes of the deviation. Thresholds are used to compare the sampled data of
an attribute with predefined values. When a measured value gets lower (or higher) than the threshold
value, it is considered a failure. This is typically applied in SPC.
CHAPTER 1 Reliability Deployment 11

One fundamental reason for the difficulties to deal with a potential failure mode of a large engineering
product, such as an electric vehicle, is its inherent complexity. Complexity implies that different parts of the
system are intercorrelated so that changes in one part may have effects on other parts. Complexity is gener-
ally a latent characteristic of large engineering products. More than one failure mechanism may be essentially
the cause behind a failure mode.

1.3.2. Probability of Product Failure


The reliability of a manufactured product refers to the probability that it will perform satisfactorily for a
specified period of time under stated use conditions. Product reliability predictions are often made possible
in light of failure density, intensity, or rate, which is the probability expressed in failures per unit of time.
There are four distinguishable types of failure rates defined in statistics:
1. Failure density f(t): It is defined as the probability per unit of time that the item experiences its first
failure at time t, given that it starts to operate at time zero. This is the so-called probability density
function (PDF) of failure. The integration or accumulation of f(t) over time, namely, F(t), is called the
cumulative distribution function (CDF) of failure. F(t) is also called unreliability in contrast to
reliability R(t). Note that R(t) + F(t) = 100%.
2. Hazard rate h(t): It is defined as the probability per unit time that the item experiences a failure at
time t, given that it has survived up to time t (>0). In other words, h(t) = f(t)/R(t). Hazard rate h(t) is
also called instantaneous failure rate—a theoretical measure of the risk of occurrence of a failure at a
point in time.
3. Unconditional failure intensity ω(t): It is defined as the probability per unit time that the repairable
item experiences a failure at time t (>0), given that it starts to operate at t = 0.
4. Conditional failure intensity λ(t): It is defined as the probability per unit time that the repairable
item experiences a failure at time t (>0), but it has been repaired to be as good as new and is
operating at time t. Conditional failure intensity λ(t) is also called the rate of occurrence of failures
(ROCOF), which is normally expressed as failures per million hours (FPMH or 106 hr) or failures per
billion hours (FPBH or 109 hr). For example, a component with a failure rate of 5 failures per million
hours is expected to fail 5 FPMH.

It is important to distinguish between repairable and nonrepairable items when carrying out
DFR activities.
Both instantaneous failure rate h(t) and conditional failure intensity λ(t) may be decreasing, increasing,
or constant over the life of the product. Consequently, probabilistic engineering analysis is utilized to under-
stand the uncertainty of the design, to identify high-risk areas for further improvement, to perform sensitivity
analysis, and finally to conduct studies on reliability optimization.

1.3.3. Failure Measured by Time


The product development process takes place with a certain amount of uncertainty in a random environment.
Failure metrics are set up to quantify the stochastic data required to effectively plan for and respond to system
failures that are unavoidable. The top three widely applied failure metrics defined in the time domain are
mean time to failure (MTTF), mean time between failures (MTBF), and mean time to repair (MTTR) and
narrate as follows:
12 Fundamentals of Design of Experiments for Automotive Engineering: Volume I

1. MTTF (Mean Time to Failure): It is a metric that measures the average amount of time a
nonrepairable system operates before it fails. It is often used to measure the average life expectancy
of an automotive component. A short MTTF means longer frequent downtime as the failing items
need to be replaced.
2. MTBF (Mean Time between Failures): It is the expected time duration between two consecutive
failures, i.e., the failure inter-arrival time, for a repairable system. The MTBF is a maintenance
metric that reflects how long the facility (e.g., equipment) can operate without being disrupted. The
ROCOF is often used to model the trend of failure, which can be constant, increasing, or decreasing,
for the purpose of increasing the failure inter-arrival time.
3. MTTR (Mean Time to Repair): The expected time span ranging from a failure (or shutdown) to the
repair (or maintenance completion) as defined for repairable systems. It refers to the amount of time
required to repair a system and restore it to full functionality.

Because failures are important in managing downtime and its potential to harm people, it is essential to
have a productive maintenance process in place to track all assets and equipment that are prone to failures.

1.4. Design for Reliability


Reliability is to deal with the fact on how a product performs the desired functional requirements over the
expected lifetime of service, while durability is mostly concerned with how long a product can last despite
the breakdowns it survives. DFR is therefore a procedure for assuring that a system performs the desired
functional requirements over the expected lifetime under the customer’s working conditions. It is ideally to
be initiated at the conceptual design stage using virtual testing (e.g., finite element analysis [FEA]) before
physical prototyping. DFR based on DOE is the most promising approach to grasp the ins and outs of cause
and effect analysis and has been in practice in the automotive industry for years.
An effect of a failure is defined as the result of a failure mode on the function of the product or process
as perceived by the customer. It should be described in terms of what the customer might see or experience
should the identified failure mode occur. The application of DFR, including product reliability growth, can
be divided into the following steps [Gardner 2006]:
1. Reference model and simulation: To understand the entire system.
2. Boundary diagram: To figure out subsystems and their interactions.
3. Parameter diagram (P-diagram): To disclose control and noise parameters.
4. Fishbone diagram: To characterize influential parameters.
5. Variation modes and effect analysis (VMEA): To prioritize parameters of interest in detail.
6. DOE: To quantify how sensitive the parameters are to the objective.
7. Optimization: To seek out the best solution.

Reliability is the probability that a product meets the intended functional requirements for a specified
duration under expected operating conditions over time, while durability is defined as a product that has
acceptable useful life without significant deterioration. A reliability goal based on survivability shall be set
forth for each product at the early design stage. The reliability goal is statistically bound by a confidence level
as the number of test specimens is always limited. For a component or system design, the norm in the auto-
motive industry is 90% reliability with a 90% confidence level (R = 90% and C = 90%) over 10 years or 240,000
km, or so.
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DON TIMOTEO Ó EL LITERATO

Genus irritabile vatum ha dicho un poeta latino. Esta expresión


bastaría á probarnos que el amor propio ha sido en todos tiempos el
primer amor de los literatos, si hubiésemos menester más pruebas
de esta incontestable verdad que la simple vista de los más de esos
hombres que viven entre nosotros de literatura. No queremos decir
por esto que sea el amor propio defecto exclusivo de los que por su
talento se distinguen: generalmente se puede asegurar que no hay
nada más temible en la sociedad que el trato de las personas que se
sienten con alguna superioridad sobre sus semejantes. ¿Hay cosa
más insoportable que la conversación y los dengues de la hermosa
que lo es á sabiendas? Mírela usted á la cara tres veces seguidas;
diríjala usted la palabra con aquella educación, deferencia ó placer
que difícilmente pueden dejar de tenerse hablando con una
hermosa; ya le cree á usted su don Amadeo, ya le mira á usted
como quien le perdona la vida. Ella sí, es amable, es un modelo de
dulzura; pero su amabilidad es la afectada mansedumbre del león,
que hace sentir de vez en cuando el peso de sus garras; es pura
compasión que nos dispensa.
Pasemos de la aristocracia de la belleza á la de la cuna. ¡Qué
amable es el señor marqués, qué despreocupado, qué llano! Vedle
con el sombrero en la mano, sobre todo para sus inferiores. Aquella
llaneza, aquella deferencia, si ahondamos en su corazón, es una
honra que cree dispensar, una limosna que cree hacer al plebeyo.
Trate éste diariamente con él, y al fin de la jornada nos dará noticias
de su amabilidad: ocasiones habrá en que algún manoplazo feudal
le haga recordar con quién se las ha.
No hablemos de la aristocracia del dinero, porque si alguna hay falta
de fundamento es ésta: la que se funda en la riqueza, que todos
pueden tener: en el oro, de que solemos ver henchidos los bolsillos
de éste ó de aquél alternativamente, y no siempre de los hombres
de más mérito; en el dinero, que se adquiere muchas veces por
medios ilícitos, y que la fortuna reparte á ciegas sobre sus favoritos
de capricho.
Si algún orgullo hay, pues, disculpable, es el que se funda en la
aristocracia del talento, y más disculpable ciertamente donde es á
toda luz más fácil nacer hermosa, de noble cuna, ó adquirir riqueza,
que lucir el talento que nace entre abrojos cuando nace, que sólo
acarrea sinsabores; y que se encuentra aisladamente encerrado en
la cabeza de su dueño como en callejón sin salida. El estado de la
literatura entre nosotros, y el heroísmo que en cierto modo se
necesita para dedicarse á las improductivas letras, es la causa que
hace á muchos de nuestros literatos más insoportables que los de
cualquiera otro país: añádese á éste el poco saber de la
generalidad, y de aquí se podrá inferir que entre nosotros el literato
es una especie de oráculo que, poseedor único de su secreto y solo
iniciado en sus misterios recónditos, emite su opinión oscura con
voz retumbante y hueca, subido en el trípode que la general
ignorancia le fabrica. Charlatán por naturaleza, se rodea del aparato
ostentoso de las apariencias, y es un cuerpo más impenetrable que
la célebre cuña de la milicia romana. Las bellas letras, en una
palabra, el saber escribir es un oficio particular que sólo profesan
algunos, cuando debiera constituir una pequeñísima parte de la
educación general de todos.
Pero, si atendidas estas breves consideraciones es el orgullo del
talento disculpable porque es el único modo que tiene el literato de
cobrarse el premio de su afán, no por eso autoriza á nadie á ser en
sociedad ridículo, y éste es el extremo por donde peca don Timoteo.
No hace muchos días que yo, que no me precio de gran literato, yo
que de buena gana prescindiría de esta especie de apodo, si no
fuese preciso que en sociedad tenga cada cual el suyo, y si pudiese
tener otro mejor, me vi en la precisión de consultar á algunos
literatos con el objeto de reunir sus diversos votos y saber qué
podrían valer unos opúsculos que me habían traído para que diese
yo sobre ellos mi opinión. Esto era harto difícil en verdad, porque, si
he de decir lo que siento, no tengo fijada mi opinión todavía acerca
de ninguna cosa, y me siento medianamente inclinado á no fijarla
jamás: tengo mis razones para creer que éste es el único camino del
acierto en materias opinables: en mi entender todas las opiniones
son peores; permítaseme esta manera de hablar antigramatical y
antilógica.
Fuíme, pues, con mis manuscritos debajo del brazo (circunstancia
que no le importará gran cosa al lector) deseoso de ver á un literato,
y me pareció deber salir para esto de la atmósfera inferior donde
pululan los poetas noveles y lampiños, y dirigirme á uno de esos
literatazos abrumados de años y de laureles.
Acerté á dar con uno de los que tienen más sentada su reputación.
Por supuesto que tuve que hacer una antesala digna de un
pretendiente, porque una de las cosas que mejor se saben hacer
aquí es esto de antesala. Por fin tuve el placer de ser introducido en
el oscuro santuario.
Cualquiera me hubiera hecho sentar; pero don Timoteo me recibió
en pie, atendida sin duda la diferencia que hay entre el literato y el
hombre. Figúrense ustedes un ser enteramente parecido á una
persona; algo más encorvado hacia el suelo que el género humano,
merced sin duda al hábito de vivir inclinado sobre el bufete; mitad
sillón, mitad hombre; entrecejo arrugado; la voz más hueca y
campanuda que la de las personas; las manos mijt y mijt, como
dicen los chuferos y valencianos, de tinta y tabaco; gran autoridad
en el decir; mesurado compás de frases; vista insultantemente
curiosa, y que oculta á su interlocutor por una rendija que le dejan
libres los párpados fruncidos y casi cerrados, que es manera de
mirar sumamente importante y como de quien tiene graves
cuidados; los anteojos encaramados á la frente; calva, hija de la
fuerza del talento, y gran balumba de papeles revueltos y libros
confundidos que bastaran á dar una muestra de lo coordinadas que
podía tener en la cabeza sus ideas; una caja de rapé y una petaca:
los demás vicios no se veían. Se me olvidaba decir que la ropa era
adrede mal hecha, afectando desprecio de las cosas terrenas, y
todo el conjunto no de los más limpios, porque éste era de los
literatos rezagados del siglo pasado, que tanto más profundos se
imaginaban cuanto menos aseados vestían. Llegué, le vi, dije: éste
es un sabio.
Saludé á don Timoteo y saqué mis manuscritos.
—¡Hola! me dijo ahuecando mucho la voz para pronunciar.
—Son de un amigo mío.
—¿Sí? me respondió. ¡Bueno! ¡Muy bien! Y me echó una mirada de
arriba abajo por ver si descubría en mi rostro que fuesen míos.
—¡Gracias! repuse, y empezó á hojearlos.
—«Memoria sobre las aplicaciones del vapor».
—¡Ah! esto es acerca del vapor, ¿eh? Aquí encuentro ya... Vea
usted... aquí falta una coma: en esto soy muy delicado. No hallará
usted en Cervantes usada la voz memoria en este sentido; el estilo
es duro, y la frase es poco robusta... ¿Qué quiere decir presión y...?
—Sí; pero acerca del vapor... porque el asunto es saber si...
—Yo le diré á usted; en una oda que yo hice allá cuando muchacho,
cuando uno andaba en esas cosas de literatura... dije... cosas
buenas...
—Pero ¿qué tiene que ver?
—¡Oh! ciertamente ¡oh! Bien, me parece bien. Ya se ve; estas
ciencias exactas son las que han destruido los placeres de la
imaginación: ya no hay poesía.
—¿Y qué falta hace la poesía cuando se trata de mover un barco,
señor don Timoteo?
—¡Oh! cierto... pero la poesía... amigo... ¡oh! aquellos tiempos se
acabaron. Esto... ya se ve... estará bien, pero debe usted llevarlo á
un físico, á uno de ésos...
—Señor don Timoteo, un literato de la fama de usted tendrá siquiera
ideas generales de todo, demasiado sabrá usted...
—Sin embargo... ahora estoy escribiendo un tratado completo con
notas y comentarios, míos también, acerca de quien fué el primero
que usó el asonante castellano.
—¡Hola¡ Debe usted darse prisa á averiguarlo: esto urge mucho á la
felicidad de España y á las luces... Si usted llega á morirse, nos
quedamos á buenas noches en punto á asonantes... y...
—Sí, y tengo aquí una porción de cosillas que me traen á leer; no
puedo dar salida á los que... ¡Me abruman á consultas!... ¡Oh! estos
muchachos del día salen todos tan... ¡Oh! ¿Usted habrá leído mis
poesías? Allí hay algunas cosillas...
—Sí; pero un sabio de la reputación de don Timoteo habrá
publicado además obras de fondo y...
—¡Oh! no se puede... no saben apreciar... ya sabe usted... á salir del
día... Sólo la maldita afición que uno tiene á estas cosas...
—Quisiera leer con todo lo que usted ha publicado: el género
humano debe estar agradecido á la ciencia de don Timoteo...
Dícteme usted los títulos de sus obras. Quiero llevarme una
apuntación.
—¡Oh! ¡Oh!
—¿Qué especie de animal es éste, iba yo diciendo ya para mí, que
no hace más que lanzar monosílabos y hablar despacio, alargando
los vocablos y pronunciando más abiertas las aes y las oes?
Cogí sin embargo una pluma y un gran pliego de papel presumiendo
que se llenaría con los títulos de las luminosas obras que habría
publicado durante su vida el célebre literato don Timoteo.
—Yo hice, empezó, una oda á la Continencia... ya la conocerá
usted... allí hay algunos versecillos.
—Continencia, dije yo repitiendo. Adelante.
—En los periódicos de entonces puse algunas anacreónticas; pero
no con mi nombre.
—Anacreónticas; siga usted; vamos á lo gordo.
—Cuando los Franceses escribí un folletito que no llegó á
publicarse... ¡como ellos mandaban!...
—Folletito que no llegó á publicarse.
—He hecho una oda al Huracán, y una silva á Filis.
—Huracán, Filis.
—Y una comedia que medio traduje de cualquier modo; pero como
en aquel tiempo nadie sabía francés, pasó por mía: me dió mucha
fama. Una novelita traduje también...
—¿Qué más?
—Ahí tengo un prólogo empezado para una obra que pienso
escribir, en el cual trato de decir modestamente que no aspiro al
título de sabio: que las largas convulsiones políticas que han
conmovido á la Europa y á mí á un mismo tiempo, las intrigas de mis
émulos, enemigos y envidiosos, y la larga carrera de infortunios y
sinsabores en que me he visto envuelto y arrastrado juntamente con
mi patria, han impedido que dedicara mis ocios al cultivo de las
musas; que habiéndose luego el gobierno acordado y servídose de
mi poca aptitud en circunstancias críticas, tuve que dar de mano á
los estudios amenos que reclaman soledad y quietud de espíritu,
como dice Cicerón; y en fin, que en la retirada de Vitoria perdí mis
papeles y manuscritos más importantes; y sigo por ese estilo...
—Cierto... Ese prólogo debe darle á usted extraordinaria
importancia.
—Por lo demás, no he publicado otras cosas...
—Conque una oda y otra oda, dije yo recapitulando, y una silva,
anacreónticas, una traducción original, un folletito que no llegó á
publicarse, y un prólogo que se publicará...
—Eso es. Precisamente.
Al oir esto no estuvo en mí tener más la risa, despedíme cuanto
antes pude del sabio don Timoteo, y fuíme á soltar la carcajada al
medio del arroyo á todo mi placer.
—¡Por vida de Apolo! salí diciendo. ¿Y es éste don Timoteo? ¿Y
cree que la sabiduría está reducida á hacer anacreónticas? ¿Y
porque ha hecho una oda le llaman sabio? ¡Oh reputaciones fáciles!
¡Oh pueblo bondadoso!
¿Para qué he de entretener á mis lectores con la poca diversidad
que ofrece la enumeración de las demás consultas que en aquella
mañana pasé? Apenas encontré uno de esos célebres literatos, que
así pudiera dar su voto en poesía como en legislación, en historia
como en medicina, en ciencias exactas como en... Los literatos aquí
no hacen más que versos, y si algunas excepciones hay, y si existen
entre ellos algunos de mérito verdadero que de él hayan dado
pruebas positivas, no son excepciones suficientes para variar la
regla general.
¿Hasta cuándo, pues, esa necia adoración á las reputaciones
usurpadas? Nuestro país ha caminado más de prisa que esos
literatos rezagados; recordamos sus nombres que hicieron ruido
cuando, más ignorantes, éramos los primeros á aplaudirlos; y
seguimos repitiendo siempre como papagayos: Don Timoteo es un
sabio. ¿Hasta cuándo? Presenten sus títulos á la gloria y los
respetaremos y pondremos sus obras sobre nuestra cabeza. ¿Y al
paso que nadie se atreve á tocar á esos sagrados nombres que sólo
por antiguos tienen mérito, son juzgados los jóvenes que empiezan
con toda la severidad que aquéllos merecerían? El más leve
descuido corre de boca en boca; una reminiscencia es llamada robo;
una imitación plagio, y un plagio verdadero intolerable
desvergüenza. Esto en tierra donde hace siglos que otra cosa no
han hecho sino traducir nuestros más originales hombres de letras.
Pero volvamos á nuestro don Timoteo. Háblesele de algún joven
que haya dado alguna obra. No lo he leído... ¡Como no leo esas
cosas! exclama. Hable usted de teatros á don Timoteo.—No voy al
teatro; eso está perdido... porque quieren persuadirnos de que
estaba mejor en su tiempo; nunca verá usted la cara del literato en
el teatro. Nada conoce, nada lee nuevo; pero de todo juzga, de todo
hace ascos.
Veamos á don Timoteo en el Prado; rodeado de una pequeña corte
que á nadie conoce cuando va con él: vean ustedes cómo le oyen
con la boca abierta; parece que le han sacado entre todos á paseo
para que no se acabe entre sus investigaciones acerca de la ruina
que á nadie le importa. ¿Habló don Timoteo? ¡Qué algazara y qué
aplausos! ¿Se sonrió don Timoteo? ¿Quién fué el dichoso que le
hizo desplegar los labios? ¿Lo dijo don Timoteo, el sabio autor de
una oda olvidada ó de un ignorado romance? Tuvo razón don
Timoteo.
Haga usted una visita á don Timoteo; en buena hora; pero no
espere usted que se la pague. Don Timoteo no visita á nadie. ¡Está
tan ocupado! El estado de su salud no le permite usar de
cumplimientos; en una palabra, no es para don Timoteo la buena
crianza.
Veámosle en sociedad. ¡Qué aire de suficiencia, de autoridad, de
supremacía! Nada le divierte á don Timoteo. ¡Todo es malo! Por
supuesto que no baila don Timoteo, ni habla don Timoteo, ni ríe don
Timoteo, ni hace nada don Timoteo de lo que hacen las personas.
Es un eslabón roto en la cadena de la sociedad.
¡Oh sabio don Timoteo! ¿Quién me diera á mí hacer una mala oda
para echarme á dormir sobre el colchón de mis laureles; para hablar
de mis afanes literarios, de mis persecuciones y de las intrigas y
revueltas de los tiempos; para hacer ascos de la literatura; para
recibir á las gentes sentado; para no devolver visitas; para vestir
mal; para no tener que leer; para decir del alumno de las musas que
más haga: «es un mancebo de dotes muy recomendables, es mozo
que promete»; para mirarle á la cara con aire de protección y darle
alguna suave palmadita en la mejilla, como para comunicarle por
medio del contacto mi saber; para pensar que el que hace versos, ó
sabe donde han de ponerse las comas, y cuál palabra se halla en
Cervantes, y cuál no, ha llegado al summum del saber humano;
para llorar sobre los adelantos de las ciencias útiles; para tener
orgullo y amor propio; para hablar pedantesco y ahuecado; para vivir
en contradicción con los usos sociales; para ser en fin ridículo en
sociedad sin parecérselo á nadie?
LA POLÉMICA LITERARIA
...à Madrid la république des lettres était
celle des loups, toujours armés les uns
contre les autres; et livrés au mépris où
ce visible acharnement les conduit, tous
les insectes, les moustiques, les cousins,
les critiques, les maringouins, les envieux,
les feuillistes, les libraires, les censeurs,
et tout ce qui s'attache à la peau des
malheureux gens de lettres, achevait de
déchiqueter et de sucer le peu de
substance qui leur restait.
Beaumarchais. Le Barbier de Séville, act. I.

Muchos son los obstáculos que para escribir encuentra entre


nosotros el escritor, y el escritor sobre todo de costumbres que
funda sus artículos en la observación de los diversos caracteres que
andan por la sociedad revueltos y desparramados: si hace un
artículo malo, ¿quién es él, dicen, para hacerle bueno? Y si le hace
bueno, será traducido, gritan á una voz sus amigos. Si huyó de
ofender á nadie, son pálidos sus escritos, no hay chiste en ellos ni
originalidad; si observó bien, si hizo resaltar los colores, y si logra
sacar á los labios de su lector tal cual picante sonrisa, «es un
payaso», exclaman, como si el toque del escribir consistiera en
escribir serio; si le ofenden los vicios, si rebosa en sus renglones la
indignación contra los necios, si los malos escritores le merecen tal
cual varapalo, «es un hombre feroz, á nadie perdona. ¡Jesús, qué
entrañas!» ¡Habrá pícaro que no quiere que escribamos disparates!
¿Dibujó un carácter, y tomó para ello toques de éste y de aquél,
formando su bello ideal de las calidades de todos? ¡Qué picarillo,
gritan, cómo ha puesto á don fulano! ¿Pintó un avaro como hay
ciento? Pues ése es don Cosme, gritan todos, el que vive aquí á la
vuelta.—Y no se desgañite para decirle al público:—«Señores, que
no hago retratos personales, que no critico á uno, que critico á
todos. Que no conozco siquiera á ese don Cosme».—¡Tiempo
perdido!—Que el artículo está hecho hace dos meses, y don Cosme
vino ayer.—Nada.—Que mi avaro tiene peluca y don Cosme no la
gasta.—¡Ni por ésas! Púsole peluca, dicen, para desorientar; pero
es él.—Que no se parece á don Cosme en nada.—No importa; es
don Cosme, y se lo hacen creer todos á don Cosme por ver si don
Cosme le mata; y don Cosme, que es caviloso, es el primero á decir:
«ése soy yo». Para esto de entender alusiones nadie como
nosotros.
¿Consistirá esto en que los criticados que se reconocen en el
cuadro de costumbres se apresuran á echar el muerto al vecino
para descartarse de la parte que á ellos les toca? ¡Quién sabe!
Confesemos de todos modos que es pícaro oficio el de escritor de
costumbres.
Con estas reflexiones encabezamos nuestro artículo de hoy, porque,
no nos perdone Dios nuestros pecados, si no creemos que antes de
llegar al último renglón han de haber encontrado nuestros
perspicaces lectores el original del retrato que no hacemos. Como
cosa de las doce serían cuando cavilaba yo ayer acerca del modo
de urdir un artículo bueno que gustase á todos los que le leyesen, y
encomendábame á toda priesa, con más fe que esperanza, á santa
Rita, abogada de imposibles, para que me deparara alguna musa
acomodaticia, la cual me enviase inspiraciones cortadas á medida
de todo el mundo. Pedíale un modo de escribir que ni fuese serio, ni
jocoso, ni general, ni personal, ni largo, ni corto, ni profundo, ni
superficial, ni alusivo, ni indeterminado, ni sabio, ni ignorante, ni
culto, ni trivial; una quimera, en fin, y pedíale de paso un buen
original francés de donde poder robar aquellas ideas que
buenamente no suelen ocurrirme, que son las más, y una baraja
completa de transposiciones felices, de éstas que el diablo mismo
que las inventó no entiende, y que por consiguiente no
comprometen al que las escribe... Pero estoy para mí que no debía
de hacer más caso de mis oraciones la santa que el que hacen los
cómicos de los artículos de teatros, porque ni venía musa, ni yo
acertaba á escribir un mal disparate que pudiese dar contento á
necios y á discretos. Mesábame las barbas, y renegaba de mi mal
cortada pluma, que siempre ha de pinchar, y de mi lengua que
siempre ha de maldecir, cuando un cariacontecido mozalbete con
cara de literato, es decir, de envidia, se me presentó, y mirándome
zaino y torcido, como quien no camina derecho ni piensa hacer cosa
buena, díjome entre uno y otro piropo, que yo eché en saco roto,
como tenía que consultarme y pedirme consejos en materias
graves.
Invitéle á que se sentara, lo cual hizo en la punta de una silla, como
aquél que no quería abusar de mi buena crianza, poniendo su
sombrero debajo de una mesa á modo de florero ó de escupidera.
—¿Y qué es el caso? le pregunté; porque ha de advertir el lector
que yo me perezco por los diálogos.
—¿Qué ha de ser, señor Fígaro, sino que yo he puesto un artículo
en un periódico, y no bien le había leído impreso, cuando zas, ya me
han contestado?
—¡Oh! Son muy bien criados los periodistas, le dije: no saben lo que
es dejar á un hombre sin contestación.
—Sí, señor; pero de buenas á primeras, y sin pedirme mi parecer,
dan en la flor de decirme que es mi artículo un puro disparate. Es el
caso que yo también quiero contestar, porque ¿qué dirá el mundo, y
sobre todo la Europa, si yo no contesto?
—Cierto: no se piensa en otra cosa en el día sino en Portugal y en
su artículo de usted.
—Ya se ve: y como usted entiende de achaque de contestaciones, y
de cómo se lleva por aquí eso de polémica literaria, vengo á que me
endilgue usted, sobre poco más ó menos, cuatro consejos
oportunos, de modo que la materia en cuestión se dilucide, se
entere el público de quién tiene razón, y quede yo encima, que es el
objeto.
—¿Y de qué habla el artículo?
—Le diré á usted: de nada: el hecho es que en la cuestión no nos
entendemos ni él ni yo, porque como la mitad de las cosas que
podrían decirse en la materia, uno y otro las ignoramos, y la otra
mitad no se puede decir...
—Sí... pues eso es muy fácil... ¿pero trata de?...
—De tabacos, sí, señor. Conque yo quisiera que usted me indicase
todos los hombres que han tenido que ver con tabacos desde Nicot
que los descubrió hasta Tissot, por lo menos, que está contra su
uso. Con la vasta erudición que usted me va á proporcionar yo haré
trizas á mi contrario...
—¡Ay, amigo!, le interrumpí, ¡y qué poco entiende usted de polémica
literaria! En primer lugar, para disputar de una materia lo primero
que usted debe procurar es ignorarla de pe á pa. ¿Qué quiere
usted?, así corren los tiempos. En segundo lugar, ¿usted sabe quién
es el autor del artículo contra usted?
—¿Y qué falta hace para aclarar la cuestión al público saber quién
sea el autor del artículo?
—¡Hombre, usted está en el cristus de la polémica literaria del país!
¿De dónde viene usted? Usted no lee. En vez de buscar libros que
confirmen la opinión de usted, la primera diligencia que ha de hacer
es saber quién es el autor del artículo contrario.
—Bueno: pues ya lo sé. Pero el caso no es ése, sino que un
periódico dice que mi artículo es malo.
—Calle usted. Somos felices.
—Yo pensaba dar razones y probar...
—No, señor, no pruebe usted nada. ¿Usted se quiere perder? Diga
usted, ¿qué señas tiene el adversario de usted? ¿Es alto?
—Mucho; se pierde de vista.
—¿Tendrá seis pies?
—Más, más: hágale usted más favor... pero ¿qué tiene que ver eso
con la cuestión de tabacos?
—¿No ha de tener? Empiece usted diciendo que su artículo de
usted es bueno: primero porque él es alto.
—¡Hombre!
—Calle usted. ¿Ha escrito algunas obras?
—Sí, señor: en el año 97 escribió una comedia que no valía gran
cosa.
—Bravo: añada usted que usted entiende mucho de tabacos,
fundado en que él hizo el año 97 una comedia...
—Pero, señor, haremos reir al público...
—No tenga usted cuidado: el público se morirá de risa, y la palestra
queda por el que hace reir. ¿Qué más tiene el adversario? ¿Tiene
alguna verruga en las narices, tiene moza, debe á alguien, ha
estado en la cárcel alguna vez, gasta peluca, ha tenido opinión
nula?...
—Algo, algo hay de eso.
—Pues bien: á él: la opinión, la verruga: duro en sus defectos. ¿Qué
entenderá él de achaque de tabacos, si escribió en los periódicos de
entonces, y si el año 8 jugaba á la pipirijaina ó á la pata coja?
—¿Pero adónde vamos á parar?...
—Á la tetilla izquierda, señor: usted no se desanime: ¿le coge usted
en un plagio? El testo en los hocicos, el original, y ande. ¿Sabe
usted algún cuento? á contársele.
—¿Y si no vienen á pelo los cuentos que yo sé.
—No importa; usted hará reir, y ése es el caso. ¿Dice él que usted
se equivoca una vez? Dígale usted qué él se equivoca ciento, y
pata. Usted es una tal; y usted es más: éste el modo.
—Pero, señor Fígaro, ¿y dónde dejamos ya la cuestión de tabacos?
—¿Y á usted qué le importa ni á nadie tampoco? Déjela usted que
viaje. Por fin luego que usted haya agotado todos los recursos de la
personalidad, concluya usted apelando al público y diciendo que él
sabrá apreciar la moderación de usted en la cuestión presente: que
se retira usted de la polémica; en primer lugar, porque ha probado
suficientemente su opinión acerca de tabacos con las poderosas
razones antedichas de la estatura, de la verruga, de la comedia del
año 97, de las deudas y de la opinión del adversario: y en segundo
lugar porque habiendo usado el contrario de mala fe y de
indecorosas personalidades (y eso dígalo usted aunque sea
mentira), de que usted no se siente capaz en atención á que usted
respeta mucho al público respetable, la polémica se ha hecho
asquerosa é interminable. Aquí dice usted una gracia ó dos si puede
acerca del mayor número de suscriciones que reúne el periódico en
que usted escribe, que es razón concluyente, y que le piquen á
usted moscas.
—Señor Fígaro, ese plan será bueno; mas yo le encuentro el
inconveniente de que si en un país en que tan poco prestigio tienen
la literatura y los literatos, en vez de darnos honor unos á otros nos
damos mutuamente en espectáculo, derribamos nosotros mismos
nuestros altares, y nos hacemos el hazmereir del público... y á mí
me da vergüenza...
—¡Ay! ¡ay! ¡ay! ¿Ahora salimos con que tiene usted vergüenza?...
y... ¡voto ya! Dijéralo usted al principio. Usted es incorregible. Pues,
amigo, voy á concluir: hace muchos años que ando por este mundo,
y las más de las polémicas que he visto se han decidido por ese
estilo. Fuera, pues, razones, señor mío: látigo y más látigo: no sé
qué sabio ha dicho que las más de las cuestiones son cuestiones de
nombre: aquí, amigo mío, las más son cuestiones de personas.—Y
con esto despedí á mi cliente, quien no sé si habrá aprovechado mis
consejos. Una cosa tan sólo le supliqué al salir por el umbral de mi
puerta.—Si acaso, le dije, oye usted decir á las gentes cuando le
vean por el mundo: «ahí va el cliente de Fígaro: ése es el del
artículo».—No lo creo, responda usted: el cliente de Fígaro es un
ente ideal que tiene muchos retratos en esta sociedad, pero que no
tiene original en ninguna.
LA FONDA NUEVA

Preciso es confesar que no es nuestra patria el país donde viven los


hombres para comer: gracias por el contrario si se come para vivir:
verdad es que no es éste el único punto en que manifestamos lo mal
que nos queremos: no hay género de diversión que no nos falte: no
hay especie de comodidad de que no carezcamos. «¿Qué país es
éste?», me decía no hace un mes un extranjero que vino á estudiar
nuestras costumbres. Es de advertir, en obsequio de la verdad, que
era francés el extranjero, y que el francés es el hombre del mundo
que menos concibe el monótono y sepulcral silencio de nuestra
existencia española.—Grandes carreras de caballos habrá aquí, me
decía desde el amanecer: no faltaremos.—Perdone usted, le
respondía yo; aquí no hay carreras.—¿No gustan de correr los
jóvenes de las primeras casas? ¿No corren aquí siquiera los
caballos?...—Ni siquiera los caballos.—Iremos á caza.—Aquí no se
caza: no hay dónde, ni qué.—Iremos al paseo de coches.—No hay
coches.—Bien: á una casa de campo á pasar el día.—No hay casas
de campo, no se pasa el día.—Pero habrá juegos de mil suertes
diferentes, como en toda Europa... habrá jardines públicos donde se
baile; más en pequeño, pero habrá sus tívolis, sus ranelagh, sus
campos elíseos... habrá algún juego para el público.—No hay nada
para el público: el público no juega.—Es de ver la cara de los
extranjeros cuando se les dice francamente que el público español,
ó no siente la necesidad interior de divertirse, ó se divierte como los
sabios (que en eso todos lo parecen) con sus propios pensamientos:
creía mi extranjero que yo quería abusar de su credulidad, y con
rostro entre desconfiado y resignado, «Paciencia, me decía por fin:
nos contentaremos con ir á los bailes que den las casas del buen
tono y las suarés...».—Paso, señor mío, le interrumpí yo: ¿conque
es bueno que le dije que no había gallinas y se me viene
pidiendo?... En Madrid no hay bailes, no hay suarés. Cada uno
habla ó reza, ó hace lo que quiere en su casa con cuatro amigos
muy de confianza, y basta.
Nada más cierto sin embargo que este tristísimo cuadro de nuestras
costumbres. Un día sólo en la semana, y eso no todo el año, se
divierten mis compatriotas: el lunes, y no necesito decir en qué: los
demás días examinemos cuál es el público recreo. Para el pueblo
bajo el día más alegre del año redúcese su diversión á calzarse las
castañuelas (digo calzarse porque en ciertas gentes las manos
parecen pies), y agitarse violentamente en medio de la calle, en
corro, al desapacible son de la agria voz y del desigual pandero.
Para los elegantes todas las corridas de caballos, las partidas de
caza, las casas de campo, todo se encierra en dos ó tres tiendas de
la calle de la Montera. Allí se pasa alegremente la mañana en contar
las horas que faltan para irse á comer, si no hay sobre todo gordas
noticias de Lisboa, ó si no dan en pasar muchos lindos talles de
quien murmurar, y cuya opinión se pueda comprometer, en cuyos
casos varía mucho la cuestión y nunca falta que hacer.—¿Qué se
hace por la tarde en Madrid?—Dormir la siesta.—¿Y el que no
duerme, qué hace?—Estar despierto; nada más. Por la noche, es
verdad, hay un poco de teatro, y tiene un elegante el desahogo
inocente de venir á silbar un rato la mala voz del bufo caricato, ó á
aplaudir la linda cara de la altra prima donna; pero ni se proporciona
tampoco todos los días, ni se divierte en esto sino un muy reducido
número de personas, las cuales, entre paréntesis, son siempre las
mismas, y forman un pueblo chico de costumbres extranjeras,
embutido dentro de otro grande de costumbres patrias, como un
cucurucho menor metido en un cucurucho mayor.
En cuanto á la pobre clase media, cuyos límites van perdiéndose y
desvaneciéndose cada vez más, por arriba en la alta sociedad, en
que hay de ella no pocos intrusos, y por abajo en la capa inferior del
pueblo, que va conquistando sus usos, ésa sólo de una manera se
divierte. ¿Llegó un día de días? ¿Hubo boda? ¿Nació un niño?
¿Diéronle un empleo al amo de la casa?, que en España ése es el
grande alegrón que hay que recibir. Sólo de un modo se solemniza.
Gran coche de alquiler, decentemente regateado; pero más gran
familia: seis personas coge el coche á lo más. Pues entra papá,
entra mamá, las dos hijas, dos amigos íntimos convidados, una
prima que se apareció allí casualmente, el cuñado, la doncella, un
niño de dos años y el abuelo: la abuela no entra porque murió el
mes anterior. Ciérrase la portezuela entonces con la misma
dificultad que la tapa de un cofre apretado para un largo viaje, y á la
fonda. La esperanza de la gran comida, á que se va aproximando el
coche mal que bien, aquello de andar en alto, el rubor de las
jóvenes que van sentadas sobre los convidados, y la ausencia sobre
todo del diurno puchero alborotan á nuestra gente en tal disposición,
que desde media legua se conoce el coche que lleva á la fonda á
una familia de enhorabuena.
Tres años seguidos he tenido la desgracia de comer de fonda en
Madrid, y en el día sólo el deseo de observar las variaciones que en
nuestras costumbres se verifican con más rapidez de lo que algunos
piensan, ó el deseo de pasar un rato con amigos, pueden obligarme
á semejante despropósito. No hace mucho sin embargo que un
conocido mío me quiso arrastrar fuera de mi casa á la hora de
comer.—Vamos á comer á la fonda.—Gracias; mejor quiero no
comer.—Comeremos bien; iremos á Genyeis: es la mejor fonda.—
Linda fonda: es preciso comer de seis ó siete duros para no comer
mal. ¿Qué aliciente hay allí para ese precio? Las salas son bien
feas: el adorno ninguno: ni una alfombra, ni un mueble elegante, ni
un criado decente, ni un servicio de lujo, ni un espejo, ni una
chimenea, ni una estufa en invierno, ni agua de nieve en verano,
ni... ni burdeos, ni champagne... Porque no es burdeos el
valdepeñas, por más raíz de lirio que se le eche.—Iremos á los Dos
Amigos.—Tendremos que salirnos á la calle á comer, ó á la
escalera, ó llevar una cerilla en el bolsillo para vernos las caras en la
sala larga.—Á cualquiera otra parte. Crea usted que hoy nos van á
dar bien de comer.—¿Quiere usted que le diga yo lo que nos darán
en cualquier fonda adonde vayamos? Mire usted, nos darán en
primer lugar mantel y servilletas puercas, vasos puercos, platos
puercos y mozos puercos: sacarán las cucharas del bolsillo, donde
están con las puntas de los cigarros; nos darán luego una sopa que
llaman de yerbas, y que no podría acertar á tener nombre más
alusivo; estofado de vaca á la italiana, que es cosa nueva; ternera
mechada, que es cosa de todos los días; vino de la fuente;
aceitunas magulladas; frito de sesos y manos de carnero, hechos
aquéllos y éstas á fuerza de pan: una polla que se dejaron otros
ayer, y unos postres que nos dejaremos nosotros para mañana.—Y
también nos llevarán poco dinero, que aquí se come barato.—Pero
mucha paciencia, amigo mío, que aquí se aguanta mucho.
No hubo sin embargo remedio: mi amigo no daba cuartel, y estaba
visto que tenía capricho de comer mal un día. Fué preciso, pues,
acompañarle, é íbamos á entrar en los Dos Amigos, cuando llamó
nuestra atención un gran letrero nuevo que en la misma calle de
Alcalá y sobre las ruinas del antiguo figón de Perona dice: Fonda del
Comercio.—¿Fonda nueva?—Vamos á ver. En cuanto al local, no
les da el naipe á los fondistas para escoger local; en cuanto al
adorno, nos cogen acostumbrados á no pagarnos de apariencias;
nosotros decimos: ¡como haya que comer, aunque sea en el suelo!
Por consiguiente nada nuevo en este punto en la fonda nueva.
Choconos sin embargo la diferencia de las caras de ahora, y que
hace medio año se veían en aquella casa. Vimos elegantes, y
diónos esto excelente idea. Realmente hubimos de confesar que la
fonda nueva es la mejor; pero es preciso acordarnos de que la
Fontana era también la mejor cuando se instaló: ésta será, pues,
otra Fontana dentro de un par de meses. La variedad que hoy en
platos se encuentra cederá á la fuerza de las circunstancias; lo que
nunca podrá perder será el servicio: la fonda nueva no reducirá
nunca el número de sus mozos, porque es difícil reducir lo poco; se
ha adoptado en ella el principio admitido en todas: un mozo para
cada sala, y una sala para cada veinte mesas.
Por lo demás no deja de ofrecer un cuadro divertido para el
observador oscuro el aspecto de una fonda. Si á su entrada hay ya
una familia en los postres, ¿qué efecto le hace al que entra frío y
sereno el ruido y la algazara de aquella gente toda alborotada
porque ha comido? ¡Qué miserable es el hombre! ¿De qué se ríen
tanto? ¿Han dicho alguna gracia? No, señor; se ríen de que han
comido, y la parte física del hombro triunfa de la moral, de la
sublime; que no debiera estar tan alegre sólo por haber comido.—
Allí está la familia que trajo el coche... ¡¡¡Apartemos la vista y
tapemos los oídos por no ver, por no oir!!!
Aquel joven que entra venía á comer de medio duro; pero se
encontró con veinte conocidos en una mesa inmediata: dejóse coger
también por la negra honrilla, y sólo por los testigos pide de á duro.
Si como son conocidos fuera una mujer á quien quisiera conquistar,
la que en otra mesa comiera, hubiera pedido de á doblón: á pocos
amigos que encuentre, el infeliz se arruina. ¡Necio rubor de no ser
rico! ¡Mal entendida vergüenza de no ser calavera!
¿Y aquél otro? Aquél recorre todos los días á una misma hora varias
fondas: aparenta buscar á alguien: en efecto, algo busca; ya lo
encontró; allí hay conocidos suyos: á ellos derecho: primera frase
suya:—¡Hombre! ¿Ustedes por aquí?—Coma usted con nosotros, le
responden todos.—Excúsase al principio; pero si había de comer
solo... un amigo á quien esperaba no viene... Vaya, comeré con
ustedes, dice por fin, y se sienta. ¡Cuán ajenos estaban sus
convidadores de creer que habían de comer con él! Él sin embargo
sabía desde la víspera que había de comer con ellos: les oyó
convenir en la hora, y es hombre que come los más días de oídas, y
algunos por haber oído.
¿Qué pareja es la que sin mirar á un lado ni á otro pide un cuarto al
mozo y?... Pero es preciso marcharnos, mi amigo y yo hemos
concluido de comer: cierta curiosidad nos lleva á pasar por delante
de la puerta entornada donde ha entrado á comer sin testigos aquel
oscuro matrimonio... sí; duda... Una pequeña parada que hacemos
alarma á los que no quieren ser oídos, y un portazo dado con todo el
mal humor propio de un misántropo nos advierte nuestra
indiscreción y nuestra impertinencia. Paciencia, salgo diciendo: todo
no se puede observar en este mundo; algo ha de quedar oscuro en
un cuadro: sea esto lo que quede en negro en este artículo de
costumbres de la Revista española.
POESÍAS DE

DON FRANCISCO MARTÍNEZ DE LA


ROSA

Es tan conocido el mérito del autor de esta nueva colección poética,


son tan justamente apreciados en España y fuera de ella los varios
ensayos didácticos y composiciones dramáticas que en anteriores
tomos ha publicado, que no es mucho que entremos con respeto y
miedo á juzgar al que puede juzgar á los demás. El justo criterio, el
gusto depurado son las dotes que más brillan en sus escritos; pero
no contento el señor Martínez de la Rosa con haber indicado el
camino que deben trillar los que á la gloria inmortal de poetas
aspiren, nos quiere dar el ejemplo al lado de la admonición. Harta
empresa es ésa para un solo hombre. No presta el cielo al mismo
tiempo la fría severidad del crítico y la ardiente imaginación del vate,
y mal pudiera prestarlas sin contradecir sus propias leyes. Si alguna
vez, pues, se ven ambas calidades reunidas puede reputarse
fenómeno. Recorramos la lista de los primeros poetas; no
hallaremos en ésa á los grandes didácticos: preceptos será lo que
en sus obras encontraremos, preceptos de inspiración; rara vez
preceptistas. Homero, Virgilio, Anacreonte, Píndaro, Taso, Millón,
etc., etc., se contentaron con la parte que les tocó; verdad es que
les tocó lo más, porque nunca harán los preceptos un poeta.
Recorramos por otra parte las obras de los grandes maestros del
arte. Aristóteles hubiera probado á entonar la trompa épica; en balde

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