Know the SCOR for a winning strategy of experiments

Observing process improvement teams at Imperial Chemical Industries in the late 1940s George Box, the prime mover for response surface methods (RSM), realized that as a practical matter, statistical plans for experimentation must be very flexible and allow for a series of iterations. Box and other industrial statisticians continued to hone the strategy of experimentation to the point where it became standard practice for stats-savvy industrial researchers.

Via their Management and Technology Center (sadly, now defunct), Du Pont then trained legions of engineers, scientists, and quality professionals on a “Strategy of Experimentation” called “SCO” for its sequence of screening, characterization and optimization. This now-proven SCO strategy of experimentation, illustrated in the flow chart below, begins with fractional two-level designs to screen for previous unknown factors. During this initial phase, experimenters seek to discover the vital few factors that create statistically significant effects of practical importance for the goal of process improvement.

The ideal DOE for screening resolves main effects free of any two-factor interactions (2FI’s) in broad and shallow two-level factorial design. I recommend the “resolution IV” choices color-coded yellow on our “Regular Two-Level” builder (shown below). To get a handy (pun intended) primer on resolution, watch at least the first part of this Institute of Quality and Reliability YouTube video on Fractional Factorial Designs, Confounding and Resolution Codes.

If you would like to screen more than 8 factors, choose one of our unique “Min-Run Screen” designs. However, I advise you accept the program default to add 2 runs and make the experiment less susceptible to botched runs.

After throwing the trivial many factors off to the side (preferably by holding them fixed or blocking them out), the experimental program enters the characterization phase (the “C”) where interactions become evident. This requires a higher-resolution of V or better (green Regular Two-Level or Min-Run Characterization), or possibly full (white) two-level factorial designs. Also, add center points at this stage so curvature can be detected.

If you encounter significant curvature (per the very informative test provided in our software), use our design tools to augment your factorial design into a central composite for response surface methods (RSM). You then enter the optimization phase (the “O”).

However, if curvature is of no concern, skip to ruggedness (the “R” that finalizes the “SCOR”) and, hopefully, confirm with a low resolution (red) two-level design or a Plackett-Burman design (found under “Miscellaneous” in the “Factorial” section). Ideally you then find that your improved process can withstand field conditions. If not, then you will need to go back up to the beginning for a do-over.

The SCOR strategy, with some modification due to the nature of mixture DOE, works equally well for developing product formulations as it does for process improvement. For background, see my October 2022 blog on Strategy of Experiments for Formulations: Try Screening First!

Stat-Ease provides all the tools and training needed to deploy the SCOR strategy of experiments. For more details, watch my January webinar on YouTube. Then to master it, attend our Modern DOE for Process Optimization workshop.

Know the SCOR for a winning strategy of experiments!