Intelligensys neural computing modeling and optimization for product formulation

Developing better products faster

INForm - Modeling and Optimizing Formulations

INForm enables product formulators to optimize their formulations to meet specific goals, saving time and balancing costs against product performance. With INForm you can tailor your formulations to each particular customer or project - and you can determine quickly when you've reached the best solution. No more time wasted exploring unfruitful ideas, and in trying to improve formulations that can't be bettered within your existing constraints and product quality requirements!

"I find INForm to be one of the most versatile programs available for advanced data analysis. The program allows me to systematically explore a design space whereby I can collect new data and feed it into the ever-growing model. I can take steps in new directions with my experiments and INForm is able to help me map the overall design space so that I have a robust understanding of my new product formulations."

- Michael R, PhD, Senior Research Scientist, USA

Because INForm is 'data driven' by the experimental results you feed into it, it can be used for a range of challenging problems in pharmaceuticals, health and personal care, home care, paints and coatings, adhesives... wherever product formulation has an important role to play. And, in each of these areas, it can tackle a variety of problems, making it an indispensible part of the formulator's tool-kit that will be used again and again.

INForm can work over a LAN, so can facilitate information-sharing with your colleagues, improving the teamworking necessary to solve complex problems. It's an essential component of any knowledge management system for formulation.

To view a PowerPoint 'walk-through', follow this link. Or see some applications, or papers and presentations that used INForm. Or just read on, to find out more about INForm's technologies and features.

How INForm works

INForm uses neural network technology and Gene Expression Programming to develop models, discovering the relationships buried in your experimental data. These techniques can capture subtle and non-linear relationships, without requiring you to pre-judge what form the relationships will take. Multi-variable formulations are easily handled, so you do not need to risk losing important information by oversimplifying your problem.

Once you have your model, integrated statistics and graphics (both 2D and 3D) give you intuitive guides of how to improve your formulations. And you can try out 'what if' ideas to see what will work best, and how changing ingredients and process conditions affects properties.

Modeling in the Knowledge Triangle

But, to get the best formulations quickly, use INForm's optimization capability. Based on a combination of genetic algorithms with fuzzy logic, the optimizer is intuitive and easy to use. You set up an 'objective function' based on the values you want for each property, and on the relative importance of the properties. You can even define your own properties - like the cost of the formulation - that are mathematical functions of the inputs. Once you have specified your objectives, the genetic algorithm searches the multi-dimensional space quickly, assessing the 'fitness' of each solution and developing new solutions to find the best.

Finds models automatically from your data

INForm is 'data driven' - it uses your own experimental data. As long as you have data, collected in a spreadsheet-type format, you can import it directly into INForm. Simply specify which variables are inputs (ingredients/processing conditions) and which are outputs, so that INForm can develop its cause-and-effect models for you. INForm does not require you to gather specific new data. You can use the historical data already collected within your organization, or start with a small study to scope out the problem. It is a simple matter to add new data later, and quickly develop better models.

ANOVA statistics, integrated into INForm, let you assess the quality of your models. As with all modelling techniques, the better the data you provide, the more reliable the answer you will get.

Optional Support & Maintenance is provided with INForm. We also offer one-day training courses on using INForm.

To access the Application Notes showing how INForm can be used, you can follow this link.