Patent ID: 8768500

Claim:
An apparatus facilitating design, manufacturing, and other processes comprising: a processor; a memory; a software application, physically stored in a computer-readable storage medium, comprising instructions operable to cause the processor and the apparatus to: receive into the memory a plurality of article characteristic values associated with a set of articles having a range of variation as to a plurality of article characteristics resulting from a process; calculate correlation coefficient values characterizing correlations between the plurality of article characteristics; calculate predictor capability values for the plurality of article characteristics, wherein the predictor capability value for a given article characteristic is a function of the correlation coefficients corresponding to the given article characteristic; receive a selection of a predictor characteristic from the plurality of article characteristics based on the correlations between the plurality of article characteristics; and, determine the regression model(s) between the predictor characteristic and at least one of the remaining article characteristics in the plurality of article characteristics; and identify a range for the predictor characteristic over which at least one remaining article characteristic is within design specifications.