Intro to Certified Softness Measurement (home page)
Certified Softness Measurement is an organization that provides:
- Consulting about measuring softness
- Softness testing for clients
- Training in how to measure softness
Types of Clients
- manufacturers and suppliers of soft products made from: paper, textiles, nonwovens
- machine manufacturers and suppliers: paper machines, converting equipment (including embossing)
- suppliers to the paper industry: chemicals, pulp
- purchasers of soft products and materials
Applications for Measuring Softness
- quality control in manufacturing
- product development
- process development
- market research
- evaluating and comparing competitor’s products
- setting quality specifications for product to be purchased
Consulting about measuring softness
Some topics:
- What is softness? Why measure it?
- Some details - components of softness and what affects them
- Mechanical methods of measuring softness - strengths and weaknesses
- Sensory methods of measuring softness - strengths and weaknesses
- How to decide
- Details on sensory test methods
Softness testing for clients
Companies hire us to measure the softness of products and materials.
- Competitive Analysis - to see how their own products compare against products made by competition
- Product Development - to quantify the differences between experimental variants
- Marketing - to ensure that advertising claims about softness are based on credible test methods
Training in testing and measuring softness
Companies hire us to train their people how to measure softness with efficiency and accuracy. We teach the following softness measurement methods.
- Control Method - good for process control and routine quality assurance, but not as accurate as the other tests (especially when comparing samples that are made very differently)
- Panel Method - best for accuracy, for selecting reference standards, and for competitive analysis, but can only handle a maximum of 9 samples at a time (including reference standards)
- Two-Out-of-Five Method - best for demonstrating whether a difference between two samples can be detected or not
- Advanced Methods - when testing and comparing more than 9 samples together with greater accuracy and precision than the Control Method
About the organization, Certified Softness Measurement
Certified Softness Measurement is owned and operated by Carl Ingalls. Expertise is provided by a group of people, most of whom were trained by and previously employed by Scott Paper.
We have experience using and teaching sensory methods for measuring the softness of tissue paper products (bath tissue, facial tissue, paper towels), textile fabrics, and nonwoven materials.
- 2006 - first softness measurement training workshop
- 2008 - began using the name “Certified Softness Measurement” and started this website at www.CertifiedSoftness.com
- 2011 - “Certified Softness” registered as a US trademark