Variability reduction for commercialization of R&D based products

The need for reduction of variability in some of the key product characteristics during the R&D-commercialization process of materials is emphasized with two examples drawn from different environments These are: PTC materials development (the case of in house technology development for in house production), and rice husk ash based rural water filter (the case of technology development for wide proliferation in rural areas in India). The examples are from Indian corporate environment. Details of the experimental design (Design of Experiments) and the results of ANOVA (Analysis of Variance) obtained in the PTC materials development work are presented. The ANOVA results are comparable to the published literature on the effect of compositional and processing parameters on the important product characteristics such as resistance and leakage current. The water filter case demonstrates the need for establishing realistic tolerance for the output characteristics of the filtered water through a systematic variation reduction step after the basic materials invention is made.