Case Study: Ford Motor Company eliminates carpet brush marks with Minitab Statistical Software

Ford Motor Company eliminates carpet brush marks in 12 days with Minitab

Ford Motor Company, a major automaker, faced a challenge when brush marks on the carpets for its 2011 Fiesta threatened the vehicle's launch. The company's Body Interior Six Sigma team needed to find a way to eliminate this defect without compromising the carpet's plushness, durability, or stain resistance. To address this, the team used Minitab Statistical Software.

Using Minitab's Design of Experiment (DOE) tools, Ford's team efficiently designed a 34-run experiment to identify the optimal settings for the carpet manufacturing machine. Analysis in Minitab revealed complex interactions between variables and provided equations to model the process. The Minitab Response Optimizer was then used to fine-tune the final settings. The solution completely eliminated brush marks, unexpectedly improved carpet softness, and allowed for a successful high-quality launch of the Fiesta, all within a 12-day project timeline.

Ford Motor Company