Faculty

Mr. Thomas B. Barker
Professor Emeritus

Web: http://people.rit.edu/tbbeqa

Thomas B. Barker is a Professor Emeritus in the Graduate Statistics Program in The John D. Hromi Center for Quality and Applied Statistics at Rochester Institute of Technology. His primary areas of research and teaching include statistical experimental design, "Taguchi" robust design, regression analysis, and empirical modeling techniques. Prior to his current position, Mr. Barker held a variety of technical and managerial positions with Xerox Corporation, where he was employed for 21 years in the development and quality engineering of numerous reprographic products.

Professor Barker is an acknowledged world authority on experimental design and the use of the "Taguchi" approach to quality engineering. He was a key contributor to the Xerox "XL-10" imaging system, the Xerox competitive technology benchmarking method, and holds six U.S. patents and numerous foreign patents for a variety of electrostatic copier products. He was a key contributor to the Xerox "Leadership Through Quality" system that led to that corporation's winning the Maclom Baldrige Award. In 1983, he received the "Outstanding Teacher Award" from RIT.

Mr. Barker is one of the most experienced instructors of the Taguchi approach to Quality Engineering by Design. He has presented this course in locations around the world reaching over 4000 engineers and scientists in over 200 seminars since 1983. He has engineered his course notes, visual presentations, and computer programs to convey the key concepts, the underlying principles, and practical applications of the Taguchi techniques in a complete, concise, and economical manner. He has conducted and supervised research to further understand and expand the Taguchi concepts and has made this work an integral part of the course material. This course, which integrates a full understanding and practice of traditional experimental design methods, has been acclaimed by participants and, more importantly, is utilized by them to make significant strides in quality and productivity.

Professor Barker is a frequent speaker at professional and technical meetings. He is noted for his ability to take a complex concept and present it with bold clarity and excitement. His many publications have appeared in Quality Progress and other technical journals. Mr. Barker's books, Quality by Experimental Design, Third Edition and Engineering Quality by Design - Interpreting the Taguchi Approach are published by Taylor & Francis/CRC Press. He received his B.S. degree in photographic science and M.S. degree in applied and mathematical statistics from RIT.