Chapter 13 (Quality Control)

1. A production process that exhibits only natural variation would be considered what?

In control

2. Another term or description for natural variation is what?

Random variation

3. If a point plotted on a control chart falls outside one of the control limits, what does
this suggest?
The process is out of control

4. Producer’s risk refers to what potential mistake?

Type I error

5. To what potential mistake does consumer’s risk refer?

Type II error

6. Will the variation in sample means be greater or less than the variation in the process
being sampled?
Less

7. A process capability index value greater than 1.0 indicates what?

the process is capable of supporting the products design specification

8. Will widening the distance between the control limits on a mean chart increase or
decrease producer’s risk?
Decrease

9. How does decreasing the sample size influence the producer’s risk in acceptance
sampling?
Increases this risk

10. Theoretically, how does an increasing proportion of defects in incoming product

influence the probability of accepting a batch?
increases AOQ

11. Do larger sample sizes lead to narrower or wider control limits on a process?

Narrower
12. Do larger sample sizes increase or decrease consumer’s risk?
Decrease

13) Five cans are measured from the recent output of a high-speed bottling line. The
weights of each of these cans are 12.23, 12.55, 12.01, 12.26, and 12.17 ounces. What
is the mean weight of this sample of five cans?
12.24

14)Five cans are measured from the recent output of a high-speed bottling line. The
weights of each of these cans are 12.23, 12.55, 12.01, 12.26, and 12.17 ounces. What
is the range in this sample of five cans?

0.54

15) Samples of five cans are to be selected periodically from a canning process that
has a standard deviation (?) of 0.2 ounces when in control. What will the standard
deviation in the sampling distribution be?

0.0894

16) A certain product can weigh no more than 1.001 and no less than 0.998 ounces by
design. A machine being considered to produce this product has natural variation of
0.0004 ounces in its output. What is the process capability index for this use of the
machine?

1.25
17) Thirty samples of 16 cans each are measured from a canning process while it is in
control. The mean of the 30 sample means is 12.03 ounces and the average range is
0.04 ounces. What should the upper and lower control limits be on a mean chart to
monitor this canning process in the future?

UCL 12.04, LCL 12.02

18) Thirty samples of 16 cans each are measured from a canning process while it is in
control. The mean of the 30 sample means is 12.03 ounces and the average range is
0.04 ounces. What should the upper and lower control limits be on a range chart to
monitor this canning process in the future?

UCL 0.0656, LCL 0.0144

19) The average proportion defective is known to be 1%. What should the upper and
lower control limits of a p-chart be if n = 25 and z = 3.0?

UCL 0.07, LCL 0

20) The average number of defects is 35 per day. What should the upper and lower
control limits of a c-chart be if z = 3.0?

UCL 52.7, LCL 17.3.

21) If a sampling plan used a sample size of n = 100 for batches of N = 1,000 units
with a 58.3% chance of accepting batches that have an actual proportion defective of p
= 10%, what AOQ would result from this plan?

5.2%

13C) Five cans are measured from the recent output of a high-speed bottling line. The
weights of each of these cans are 12.13, 12.95, 12.11, 12.27, and 12.16 ounces. What
is the mean weight of this sample of five cans?

Mean weight = 12.32 ounces

14C)Five cans are measured from the recent output of a high-speed bottling line. The
weights of each of these cans are 12.13, 12.95, 12.11, 12.27, and 12.16 ounces. What
is the range in this sample of five cans?

Range = 0.84 ounces

15C)Samples of six cans are to be selected periodically from a canning process that has
a standard deviation (?) of 0.1 ounces when in control. What will the standard deviation
in the sampling distribution be?

0.041 ounces

16C) A certain product can weigh no more than 1.011 and no less than 1.001 ounces by
design. A machine being considered to produce this product has natural variation of
0.004 ounces in its output. What is the process capability index for this use of the
machine?

0.42

17C) Twenty samples of 15 cans each are measured from a canning process while it is
in control. The mean of the 20 sample means is 10.05 ounces and the average range is
0.05 ounces. What should the upper and lower control limits be on a mean chart to
monitor this canning process in the future?

UCL 10.06, LCL 10.04;

18C)Twenty samples of 15 cans each are measured from a canning process while it is in
control. The mean of the 20 sample means is 10.05 ounces and the average range is
0.05 ounces. What should the upper and lower control limits be on a range chart to
monitor this canning process in the future?

UCL 0.08, LCL 0.02

19C) The average proportion defective is known to be 2.5%. What should the upper
and lower control limits of a p-chart be if n = 30 and z = 3.0?
UCL 0.115, LCL 0
 20C) The average number of defects is 20 per day. What should the upper and
lower control limits of a c-chart be if z = 2.8?

UCL 32.5, LCL 7.5

21C) If a sampling plan used a sample size of n = 125 for batches of N = 1,250
units with a 62.7% chance of accepting batches that have an actual proportion defective
of p = 10%, what AOQ would result from this plan?

5.6%

22) Suppose a manager must construct either a mean chart with known variation or a
p-chart to monitor some process. When the process is in control, the manager wants
only 0.6% of the samples taken to fall outside these limits. What z-value should be used
when calculating the limits for this chart?

2.75

23) Suppose a manager must construct either a mean chart with known variation or a
p-chart to monitor some process. When the process is in control, the manager wants
only 12.6% of the samples taken to fall outside these limits. What z-value should be
used when calculating the limits for this chart?

1.53
24) Samples of five cans are to be selected periodically from a canning process that has
a variance (?2) of 0.2 ounces when in control. What will the standard deviation in the
sampling distribution be?

0.2

25) A certain product can weigh no more than 1.001 and no less than 0.998 ounces by
design. What is the maximum natural variation a process can have to be considered
capable of supporting these design specifications?

x=0.0005

26) Suppose a manager must construct either a mean chart with known variation or a
p-chart to monitor some process. When the process is in control, the manager wants
only 1.92% of the samples taken to fall outside these limits. What z-value should the
manager use when calculating the limits for this chart?

2.34.

27) An office supply company manufactures paper clips, and even tolerates a small
proportion of those paper clips being defective (incorrectly shaped and/or twisted) in its
outgoing product. (The company reasons that paper clips are so cheap, users will simply
discard the occasional defective paper clip they might find in a box.) The average
proportion of defective paper clips is known to be 2% when the paper clip
manufacturing process is in control. To monitor this issue, what should be the value of
the upper control limit of a p-chart if the company plans to include 100 paper clips in
each of its samples and uses a z-value of 3.0 to construct the chart?
0.062 or 6.2%.
22C) Suppose a manager must construct either a mean chart with known variation or a
p-chart to monitor some process. When the process is in control, the manager wants
only 0.5% of the samples taken to fall outside these limits. What z-value should be used
when calculating the limits for this chart?

2.81

23C) Suppose a manager must construct either a mean chart with known variation or a
p-chart to monitor some process. When the process is in control, the manager wants
only 11.8% of the samples taken to fall outside these limits. What z-value should be
used when calculating the limits for this chart?

1.56

24C) Samples of nine cans are to be selected periodically from a canning process that
has a variance (?2) of 0.6 ounces when in control. What will the standard deviation in
the sampling distribution be?

0.258

25C) A certain product can weigh no more than 1.004 and no less than 0.992 ounces by
design. What is the maximum natural variation a process can have to be considered
capable of supporting these design specifications?

0.002 ounces

26C) Suppose a manager must construct either a mean chart with known variation or a
p-chart to monitor some process. When the process is in control, the manager wants
only 1.73% of the samples taken to fall outside these limits. What z-value should the
manager use when calculating the limits for this chart?

Z value is 2.38
27C) An office supply company manufactures paper clips, and even tolerates a small
proportion of those paper clips being defective (incorrectly shaped and/or twisted) in its
outgoing product. (The company reasons that paper clips are so cheap, users will simply
discard the occasional defective paper clip they might find in a box.) The average
proportion of defective paper clips is known to be 1.8% when the paper clip
manufacturing process is in control. To monitor this issue, what should be the value of
the upper control limit of a p-chart if the company plans to include 200 paper clips in
each of its samples and uses a z-value of 3.0 to construct the chart?

UCL = 0.0462

S28) A beverage company would like to use a mean chart to monitor how much
liquid beverage it puts into each 500-ml bottle. They know from past experience that
whenever this process is under control, bottle weight is normally distributed with a
mean of 500 ml and a standard deviation of 2 ml. The company plans to measure
samples of 25 bottles from the production line every hour, and record the mean weight
of liquid beverage in the bottles.

a. If the company uses z = 3.0 as its standard for establishing the mean chart, where
will the upper and lower control limits be on that chart?

UCL 501.2, LCL 498.8

b. For legal reasons, the company cannot tolerate more than 501 or less than 499 ml in
each bottle. What is the process capability index value for this bottling process? What
does it indicate about the process?
0.167, it is not capable of supporting design
S29) A large beverage company would like to use statistical process control to monitor
a new bottling machine designed to load liquid into 350-ml bottles. This company knows
that the exact amount the machine places in each bottle can naturally vary by a small
amount, but does not have any more specific information about the process. The
company operated this new machine under careful supervision, confident that the
machine was under complete control, for 7 hours. Each hour, a sample of six bottles
was taken off the line and the amount of liquid in each bottle was carefully measured.
This is the resulting data (see PDF):

a. Where should the control limits be placed on a mean chart intended to monitor this
machine in the future, using the same sampling procedure that produced this data?

UCL 351.37, LCL 350.66

b. Where should the control limits be placed on a range chart intended to monitor this
machine in the future, using the same sampling procedure that produced this data?

UCL 1.48, LCL 0

c. A new sample is taken from the machine’s output, and these are the exact weights of
liquid in each bottle: 350.82 ml, 350.07 ml, 350.10 ml, 350.50 ml, 349.75 ml, and
349.90 ml. According to the charts created in parts a and b of this question, does this
sample indicate the process is in control?

While range is in control the sample mean shows the process is out of control
S30) A manager wants to monitor the proportion of red candies present in a five-color
candy mix. For 8 hours, the manager has gathered exactly 50 candies every hour by
randomly selecting and emptying one 50-candy bag produced by the candy mix
packaging machine. During this 8-hour shift, the manager was assured the candy color
mix was under appropriate control. Examining the eight samples gathered revealed
these amounts of red candy (see PDF):

a. What are the mean and the standard deviation of the natural variation in this
sampling process for the proportion of red candy?

Mean 0.21 Standard deviation 0.0576

b. If the manager uses z = 3.0 to create a p-chart to continue monitoring the proportion
of red candy in the five-color mix, what will be its upper and lower control limits?

UCL 0.3828, LCL 0.0372.

c. Suppose the manager is mistaken in the belief that each bag contains 50 candies. In
reality, the number of candies in each bag can vary quite a bit, so the manager has
resolved to use a c-chart instead. Assuming the same level of confidence as in part b,
what are the upper and lower control limits of this chart? How does this chart compare
to the p-chart in part b?

UCL 20.2, LCL 0.8; C-chart is somewhat wider in terms of count of red candies