Product/Process Improvement by Integrated Physical and Simulation Experiments: A Case Study in the Textile Industry

In hi-tech industry, such as aerospace and microelectronics, simulation and lab tests are routinely used together in the product/process development phase. However, although design or experiments and computer experiments are sound methodologies for running experiments in physical and numerical settings, respectively, effective integration between the two kinds of investigation in view of product/process improvement and innovation is little explored in the academic literature. This paper presents a broad approach for this purpose. Although the approach is still qualitative, it introduces the various elements of an industrially relevant problem, which is likely to challenge applied statisticians in the near future. The approach is illustrated by its application to a manufacturing process in the textiles. Copyright (C) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.