Case Studies and White Papers


Chocolate Chip Cookie Mixture

Published: May 2023
Author: Jessica Keel

Most people like Chocolate Chip Cookies, some like them soft and others like them crispy. The difference between soft and crispy is the thickness, height, and density of the cookie. This experiment will go through and measure the effectiveness that different combinations of the ingredients have on Chocolate Chip Cookies. The objective is to find the cookie resulting in the best taste and appearance.

The objective of the experiment is to identify and analyze the effects of 4 different ingredients, cooking temperatures, and cooking time. The experiment will be a KVC Model, mixture model.

Published: May 2021
Author: Mark Anderson

This article details a delightful experiment that can be done at home or in class to illustrate the advantage of multifactor testing over the traditional one-factor-at-a-time (OFAT) scientific method. It uncovers multiple interactions that surprisingly cancel out OFAT main effects.

Publication: Quality Progress

Published: January 2021
Author: Mark Anderson

Energized by new tools in version 13 of Design-Expert (DX13) for modeling counts, Engineering Consultant Mark Anderson tests a cellphone app against built-in timing on his microwave for minimizing unpopped kernels (UPK). DX13 paves the way to nearly perfect popcorn via its Poisson-regression count-modeling capability.

Published: January 2021
Author: Mark Anderson

Fun and educational science projects for children and/or adults that demonstrate the value of design of experiments.

Publication: Stat-Ease, Inc.

Published: June 2020
Author: Mark Anderson

Ever-increasing demand for monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) makes it imperative that their production be continually improved for cost, quality and yield. Design of experiments (DOE), by its multifactor testing methodology and statistical rigor, provides a sure path to mAb process optimization. This was demonstrated recently in a series of tests at a biotechnology company. By using the tools of DOE versus the traditional scientific method of one-factor-at-a-time (OFAT) experimentation, its mission was achieved in a matter of weeks rather than months with a far more comprehensive mapping of process conditions.

Published: May 2020

Researchers at Adverum Biotechnologies have demonstrated that a novel multifactor design of experiments (DOE) methodology can optimize production of a recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) vector. The methodology, an advanced form of DOE that incorporates response surface methods (RSMs), focused on the relative amounts of transfection agent polyethylenimine (PEI) and DNA.

This methodology is unique because of the way it keeps the ratio of PEI nitrogen to DNA phosphate—the N/P ratio—within a specified range. The N/P ratio is well known to influence the rAAV yields obtained via transient transfection.

Publication: Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News

Published: April 2020
Author: Jason Pandolfo

Industrial product development can often be a frustrating process, especially in the case of formulations. Many commercial formulated products can have 20 or more components. With so many possibilities for multi-component blending effects to impact performance, it is difficult to optimize a formulation without design of experiments (DOE).

This case study explores how chemists at Quaker Houghton (Conshohocken, PA) explored reformulating an existing product to improve performance and reduce cost. Their use of Design-Expert led to discoveries they didn't expect.

Publication: Lubes 'N' Greases

Published: August 2019
Author: Leonard Lye

Case studies, complete with data, that cover a wide range of applications of DOE in engineering and science. The collection is ideal for teachers and students of DOE. It is also useful for those who want to learn more about the power of DOE methods or who are looking for research ideas.

Click here to download the Design-Expert data files for this book.

Click here to download a spreadsheet of the data for this book.

Know the SCOR for Multifactor Strategy of Experimentation: Screening, Characterization, Optimization and Ruggedness Testing

Published: April 2019
Author: Mark Anderson

By way of example, this article lays out a strategy for design of experiments (DOE) that provides maximum efficiency and effectiveness for development of a robust system. It broadens the scope of a prior article (Anderson and Whitcomb 2014) that spelled out how to right-size multifactor tests via statistical power-calculations—a prerequisite for DOE success.

Publication: The ITEA Journal of Test and Evaluation

Published: March 2019
Authors: David Slinkman, Yixing (Philip) Zhao

Without mixture design of experiments, chemists would have taken twice as long to develop the extremely biostable HOCUT 8000 coolant and been lucky to achieve its same levels of performance in extending sump life and eliminating the need for costly sump-side additives. Here's an inside look at how they did it.

Publication: Fabricating & Metalworking