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Engineering software quickens product launch

Mary Kay Inc., the Dallas-based global direct-selling manufacturer of skin care and beauty products, is implementing Design-Expert® mathematical software from Stat-Ease (Minneapolis, MN) to help avoid product launch delays and unnecessary rework costs.

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The 8-oz body wash shown here, in a polyethylene terephthalate bottle with polypropylene dispensing closure, was the first product to benefit from the new software. “As we moved toward launch,” says Renee Wickham, quality assurance director, “we questioned the ability of the in-line capper to deliver a precise amount of torque when rotating the cap onto the bottle. If the amount of torque applied fell below four inch-pounds, the result would be a leaky package. But torque greater than 10 inch-pounds would scuff the cap.”

Wickham and colleagues used Design-Expert software to pinpoint the optimum torque. The software is an alternative to more traditional OFAT testing, or “one-factor-at-a-time” testing, where other factors remain constant while a single factor is tested. Design-Expert systematically provided information about how interconnected factors—spindle speed, conveyor speed, cap placement, product residue—affect torque. This information is in the form of algebraic equations that serve as models to predict the results for any given combination of factor values.

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