Why SLED?
1. Low cost
This is achieved by automatically seeking out the minimum number of experimental runs required to quantify the effect of all factors and their two-factor interactions. This not only reduces cost but also enables solutions in significantly less time. Often time is more important than cost.
2. High quality information yield
A common mistake in trouble-shooting - as well as new product design - is to take the expedient route of the “quick fix”. This can lead to band-aid solutions. Down the road, these problems recur and present further, costlier challenges. It is then necessary to go back to “square one” and cover much of the ground already studied. The use of SLED designs has always produced reliable answers. A few statistically-selected confirming experiments assure the correctness of these conclusions.
Why Industrial Experimentation?
Industrial Experimentation is aimed at developing new and improving current products and processes. In the U. S., this effort accounts for about 2.5 percent of the Gross Domestic product of three trillion dollars, or roughly $ 75 billion.
It is estimated that roughly $ 20 billion is spent on doing experiments.
The main purpose of these experiments is to establish cause-and-effect relationships.
Corporate objectives demand wise expenditure of experimental dollars. That means getting the most -and best - information from each experiment.
How will SLED improve my business?
The many clients for whom SLED experiments have been conducted have, without exception, found permanent solutions to their problems. These have yielded direct benefit/cost ratios of just over seven to one to nearly forty to one!
In addition, nearly all such programs have enjoyed one or more of these fringe benefits:
> Increased productivity
> Improved customer quality acceptance
> Enlarged market share
> Better product design
> Simplified process controls
> Lower inspection costs
Regardless of the experimental techniques are being using, it is very likely that this new technology can bring rich rewards. A short introductory meeting can approximate its potential improvement to your situation. This confidence is undergirded by the fact that SLED’s have been used successfully in nearly all S.I.C.’s.
How Do I Identify a Potential Experiment?
Many cases are simple, involving only one factor acting upon the resultant. Other situations are more complicated; those in which four or more factors are involved - and subtle interactions may be present.
It is for just such instances that the SLED family of experimental designs was developed.
The type of problem for which SLED experiments are particularly well suited are those characterized by one or more of the following statements:
1. A long-standing, tenacious problem which has failed to yield to conventional methods.
2. A problem with many causes, none of which has affected a permanent cure.
3. A problem where previous attempts to solve have produced contradictory results.
4. A problem which has come to be accepted as “coming with the territory”.
Experimental Design & Six Sigma
SLED is an essential tool that all Six Sigma black belts should have at their disposal. WFPA offers training on Design of Experiments using SLED for quality analysts seeking Black Belt certification or current Black Belt’s looking to improve their skills.