Book Reviews

Strategies for Formulations Development: A Step-by-Step Guide Using JMP
By Ronald Snee and Roger Hoerl
978-1-62959-670-9


"There is a great demand for an introductory and yet comprehensive book on design and analysis of mixture experiments from the practitioners in pharmaceutical, food, chemical industries alike. This book meets this demand." Read full review here.

Journal of Quality Technology



"As Ron Snee and Roger Hoerl stated (in Chapter 7), "The central theme of this book is the need to have a strategy for your formulations development work. Briefly stated, our proposed strategy, which has been successfully applied and refined for decades, is to first run screening experiments to be followed by optimization experiments to better understand the effects of critical components identified in the screening experiment." The authors are to be commended for pulling together and documenting this strategy and its supporting experimental design and analysis tools as an accessible format for application by the practitioner, including the use of modern statistical software to implement the powerful but often complex methods inherent in the "mixtures world"."

Dr. Steven P. Bailey
Principal Consultant, Applied Statistics, DuPont (retired)
Past President and Chairman of the Board, American Society for Quality
Certified Master Black Belt (ASQ and DuPont)



"Snee and Hoerl have collaborated to produce an extremely valuable addition to the applied literature on formulation designs, mainly mixture designs, using JMP 13 software. In 10 very well written and accessible chapters, they proceed step-by-step in increasing levels of complexity covering the basics of formulation models, experimentation and response surface methodology, the model building process, screening with single and multiple constraints, response surface models with constrained systems, and finally experiments involving formulation and process variables.

"The emphasis of the material is on the practical aspects of design and analysis using plenty of real life examples from the pharmaceutical, food, petroleum, and other industries carried out using JMP 13, with associated analysis summaries and graphics. The authors rarely spend time on elaborate statistical models, although they do emphasize that every statistical design is connected to a clear statistical model.

"Thanks to Snee and Hoerl, novice statisticians and scientists engaged in formulation studies will have a handy guide to lead them through the maze of learning how to design and carry out the statistical analysis of formulation studies."

Stan Altan, PhD
Statistician



"I found Strategies for Formulations Development: A Step-by-Step Guide Using JMP to be easy to read while providing a comprehensive roadmap for attacking the problem of designing complex formulations. This book is clearly written with the practitioner in mind as it provides proven and actionable advice without getting bogged down in the statistical details of the recommended methods. It is loaded with case study examples of mixture experiments that cover the full range of challenges experienced by a formulator.

"As an instructor of Six Sigma methods within my company and with over 24 years of formulation experience with paint and modified asphalt, I found the proposed strategies consistent with what I have found to be effective. Yet I still found several new ideas that I plan to add to my experimental toolbox."

Kevin Gallagher
Scientist at PPG



"A must-read gem based on the combined wisdom and experience of leading statisticians, Ronald Snee and Roger Hoerl, Strategies for Formulations Development: A Step-by-Step Guide Using JMP provides clear, thorough, concise, current and comprehensive insights to the design, analysis, and interpretation of mixture experiments.

"Readers are treated to real-world examples, complete with raw data, worked through to full business implications. Key concepts and procedures are explained flawlessly with references for more thorough detail. The flow from simple to more complex makes for easy reading and comprehension. The work is a gift to statisticians and practitioners alike"

Lynne B. Hare, Ph.D.
Statistical Strategies, LLC