TRELOAR PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT INTERNATIONAL  INC. 

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT 
EFFICIENCY THROUGH EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN

Product development teams are always looking for new ways to "work smarter, not harder". Some food companies are working to bring new products to market using revolutionary methods. They are doing this by using experimental design approaches pioneered by Dr. Genichi Taguchi. In this issue of Focus, we introduce a method that:

• shortens development time;
• reduces development cost; and
• designs superior products and processes.

THE PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
LIFE CYCLE

Developers know that prototypes can be designed that work "perfectly" on the bench. They develop the formula that meets targets for flavour, texture, nutritional profile, ingredient cost, etc. In the pilot plant, or in production trials, the prototype often behaves differently. In response, the developers change the formula or the process. Full scale manufacturing involves more changes and "tweaking" of the formula and process. Finally, the product meets the consumer. This happy event is often short-lived as problems in product performance surface. The developers are thrust into emergency "redevelopment" to fix the product.

The continual appearance of new factors affecting product performance is well known.
We are aware of the likelihood of problems at several stages:

• moving the prototype into the pilot plant;
• scaling up to manufacturing;
• packaging and distribution; and
• consumer use.

Many companies use "tolerance testing" to simulate product performance in the hands of the consumer. In this testing, the product is subjected to conditions it may experience such as over- or under-baking; or adding too much or too little water to a bakery mix. Tolerance testing is often done as a last check prior to manufacturing start-up or introduction of a new product.

THE HIGH COST OF TRADITIONAL METHODS

This cycle of making changes in response to variation is expensive in time and money. As each product change is made, more testing is needed. Changes to the product and process add cost: development costs in staff hours, ingredients and plant trials; and opportunity costs of delayed product introduction.

A BETTER WAY

The traditional approach depends on waiting until the product gets into trouble and then dealing with the problem. While we know that a product will experience many changes before it comes to life in the marketplace,

we have not had a strategy to address these changes. In Dr. Taguchi’s approach, development efforts focus on designing the product that will perform consistently in the face of variation that it will experience in its lifetime. The essence of the method is to anticipate variation and deal with it much earlier in the development process. In the development of food products, variation can come from a multitude of sources. (See the list under The Product Development Life Cycle.) These sources of variation, termed "noise factors" by Dr. Taguchi, are beyond the control of the developer and the manufacturer. The additional costs accumulated by the product during development are commonly related to attempting to impose control on the "noise".

Dr. Taguchi’s approach is based on building in resistance to noise factors during the design of the product at the bench. The result is a product that is less sensitive to the variations it encounters in its life cycle. It will more consistently deliver the desired performance under varying conditions. By using these methods, the formula that is most resistant to variation can be developed at the lowest cost. This high quality/low cost combination has been successfully achieved in thousands of development projects in many different industries. When applied to food products and processes, Dr. Taguchi’s methods can yield extraordinary results!