DEFINING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF FACTORS IN PROCESS OF DRYING INDUSTRIAL BAKERS YEAST BY USING TAGUCHI METHOD AND REGRESSION ANALYSIS, AND COMPARING THE RESULTS

Taguchi Method and Regression Analysis have wide spread applications in statistical researches. It can be said that Taguchi Method is one of the most frequently used method especially in optimization problems. But applications of this method are not common in food industry . In this study, optimal operating parameters were determined for industrial size fluidized bed dryer by using Taguchi method. Then the effects of operating parameters on activity value (the quality chracteristic of this problem) were calculated by regression analysis. Finally, results of two methods were compared.To summarise, average activity value was found to be 660 for the 400 kg loading and average drying time 26 minutes by using the factors and levels taken from application of Taguchi Method. Whereas, in normal conditions (with 600 kg loading) average activity value was found to be 630 and drying time 28 minutes. Taguchi Method application caused 15 % rise in activity value.