Application of Six Sigma Quality Tools to High Throughput and Combinatorial Materials Development

James N. Cawse, GE Corporate Research & Development

As our ability to generate large numbers of experiments has accelerated, it has become more important to ensure that the quality of each process step and individual sample is as high as possible. There are too many samples for each data point to be checked individually, and too many process steps for human oversight. To achieve a reasonable level of quality in the information from a high throughput experimental system, the principles of modern Six Sigma manufacturing must be applied. The quality of the end product is then ensured by the quality of each individual process step and the robustness of final quality to variation in the process steps

Biography

James Cawse is a Staff Scientist with the Combinatorial Chemistry Program at GE Corporate Research and Development. Dr. Cawse received a B.A. in Chemistry from Wesleyan University and a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Stanford University in 1973. Dr. Cawse began his industrial career at the Union Carbide Technical Center (S. Charleston, WV) as a chemist in the ethylene oxide/glycol business. He joined GE Plastics in 1979 as a staff chemist where he worked in monomer process development. From 1989 through 1995 he led the Design Of Experiments program for Plastics Technology. In 1996-7 he was a leader in the GE Six Sigma quality program in GE Plastics Technology. He is an expert in Design of Experiments and interpretation of data from complex experimental situations. Dr. Cawse transferred to the Combinatorial Chemistry Program at the GE Corporate Research and Development Center in February 1998. His roles in that team include experimental strategy, data handling, and data interpretation. Dr. Cawse has authored or co-authored twelve technical publications and four patents.