Speaker Notes

Written by: Dr. Trevor Mahar, Australian Wool Testing Authority Ltd.

The aim of TEAM was to introduce a new concept within the wool trading and early stage processing industries. This concept was to use a mathematical formula based on objective specifications of raw wool properties to predict top fibre length.
The decision was taken to use a simple approach, multiple linear regression, which would be relatively easy to explain. It was also considered important for subsequent adoption of the technology that one general formula be obtained, rather than a series of formulas.

TEAM predictions are valid only if the raw wool & top properties of the consignment to be predicted fall within the range of properties included in the original data used to derive the regression equation. The TEAM equation is shown in this slide.
The wools in the TEAM consignments covered a wide range of wool properties and were composed of 70% fleece, 20% skirting and 10% mixed wools. The mean value and range of values for the raw wool characteristics of the original consignments were:

range mean
Mean Fibre Diameter (µm) 17 - 31 22
Vegetable Matter Base (%) 0 - 10 2.1
Staple Length (mm) 59 - 123 86
CV of Staple Length (%) 12 - 30 19
Staple Strength (N/ktex) 23 - 60 39

The final term in the equation is called the mill adjustment factor (Mill Factor). This factor is variable depending on how a particular mill performs in relation to the TEAM average. If a figure of 3.5 was found, the mill’s machinery would be performing to the average performance of mills used in the TEAM trial. A figure greater than 3.5 would mean that a mill performs below that average.