As forgers are pressured to remain competitive, they must act on opportunities to reduce costs, eliminate scrap and improve operational efficiency.

The design of process chains is used to achieve targeted form and material characteristics and is based on the premise of fast and flexible production – with a simultaneous reduction of costs.

The motivation of forgers to understand how design and process changes influence various aspects increases the need for versatile process-simulation tools capable of modeling the entire process chain.

In this second of two articles about design of experiments (DOE) and optimization, we illustrate how they apply to forging design.

In this first of two articles on how design of experiments (DOE) and optimization can be applied to forging, we will define the terms and illustrate how they fit forging design and process development.