Case Studies and White Papers
Making Use of Mixture Design to Optimize Olive Oil - A Case Study
Olive oil, an important commodity of the Mediterranean region and a main ingredient of their world-renowned diet (see sidebar), must meet stringent European guidelines to achieve the coveted status of "extra virgin." Oils made from single cultivars (a particular cultivated variety of the olive tree) will at times fall into the lower "virgin" category due to seasonal variation. Then it becomes advantageous to blend in one or more superior oils. This is a great case to become acquainted with the tools of mixture design for optimal formulation.
Design of Experiments Helps Improve the Robustness of Off-Highway Vehicle Coating
An agricultural equipment manufacturer asked Henkel to help optimize a tough coating application using DOE.
Rich Products used DOE to develop an all-natural bread dough that would met the same quality and taste standards as their popular conventional bread doughs.
Using design of experiments, Land O'Lakes researchers set out to improve a new deli process cheese formulation, without impacting its other attributes. They achieved a significant improvement in appearance of the new without adversely affecting other characteristics.
Via mixture design of experiments (DOE) Alberto-Culver developed a new line of scrubs that far exceeded the performance of what they thought was possible. The formulator said "We selected Design-Expert software from Stat-Ease because of its exceptional capabilities in the design and analysis of mixture experiments. The end result is that we can get products to market faster and at a lower cost than with conventional experiment designs."
Design of Experiments Demonstrates Robustness of Biopharmaceutical Process
Diasorin used DOE to evaluate the robustness of its process for manufacturing an alpha-1-antitrypsin (AAT) assay. The results provided a considerable degree of confidence that existing in-process quality control criteria sufficed for being assured of meeting finished product requirements. This case study provides an excellent example of how DOE can reduce the time required to perform a latitude study while delivering statistical analysis that increases the degree of confidence in the study.
A statistically based design of experiments (DOE) approach developed specifically for mixtures was used to formulate a blend of rayon fibers that produced maximal tampon absorbency.
The Williamette Valley Co. (WVCO) increased manufacturing yield by designing an experiment to simultaneously measure the impact of key factors on critical responses.
Lean Six Meets Foil Stamping
A large printing company tasked a Lean Six Sigma project team with finding a way to reduce setup time and costs in a department consisting of 33 Kluge presses. The results of the DOE led to a reduction of 5% in printing costs by moving to a less expensive foil for that job, and other knowledge gained from the experiment led to a 40% reduction in setup time over the last two years.
Design of Experiments Reduces Rubber Scrap by 90%
A custom rubber molder used DOE to uncover a combination of material selection and manufacturing protocol that created unacceptable results. Armed with this process knowledge, they achieved breakthrough quality improvements.