Study on Process Quality of Shaft Roundness of Badminton Rackets

Abstract

The development and process quality of badminton rackets are important issues for sports product manufacturers. The shaft connects the handle and the racket head. Aside from the material of the shaft, the roundness of the two ends is a significant quality characteristic. However, a comprehensive review reveals little existing research assessing the process quality of shaft roundness in badminton rackets. This study employed a process capability index to develop a hypothesis-testing procedure for the assessment of process quality with regard to shaft roundness in badminton rackets. Using a case study of the badminton racket of manufacturer T, the implementing process of the proposed approach was demonstrated. This study also presents a lookup table of various PCI values, yield rates, and hypothesis-testing critical values corresponding to different quality levels for industrial use. The proposed approach fills the current gap in academic research and industrial practice.