Chapter 3

Statistical Process Control

Operations
Operations Management
Management -- 66thth Edition
Edition

Roberta Russell & Bernard W. Taylor, III

Beni Asllani
Copyright 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
 Lecture Outline

Basics of Statistical Process Control

Control Charts
Control Charts for Attributes
Control Charts for Variables
Control Chart Patterns
Process Capability

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 Customer Requirements
Product
launch
activities: Product Specifications
Revise
periodically
Process Specifications

Statistical Process
Control:
Measure & monitor quality

Ongoing Meets No Fix

Activities Specifications process or
? inputs
Yes

Conformance Quality
 Basics of Statistical
Process Control
Statistical Process Control
(SPC)
monitoring production process
to detect, correct, and prevent UCL
poor quality
Sample
subset of items produced to
use for inspection LCL

Control Chart
Is the process within statistical
control limits?

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 Variation in a
Transformation Process
Inputs
Facilities Outputs
Equipment Transformation Goods &
Materials Process Services
Energy
Employees

Variation in inputs create variation in outputs

Variations in the transformation process create
variation in outputs
 Basics of Statistical Process Control
Types of Variation (1)

1. Random variation
Also called common cause variation
This type of variation is inherent in a process.
Caused by usual variations in equipment, tooling,
employee actions, facility environment, materials,
measurement system, etc.
If random variation is excessive, the goods or
services will not meet quality standards.
To reduce random variation, we must reduce
variation in the inputs and the process

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 Basics of Statistical Process Control
Types of Variation (2)

2. Non-random variation
Also called special cause variation or assignable
cause variation
Caused by equipment out of adjustment, worn
tooling, operator errors, poor training, defective
materials, measurement errors, etc.
The process is not behaving as it usually does.
The cause can and should be identified and
corrected.

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 Statistical Process Control (SPC)
When is a process in control?
A process is in control if it has no special cause
variation.
The process is consistent or predictable.

SPC distinguishes between common cause and

special cause variation
Measure characteristics of goods or services that are
important to customers
Make a control chart for each characteristic
The chart is used to determine whether the

process is in control
 Specification Limits
The target is the ideal value
Example: if the amount of beverage in a bottle should be 16

ounces, the target is 16 ounces

Specification limits are the acceptable range of values for a
variable
Example: the amount of beverage in a bottle must be at least
15.98 ounces and no more than 16.02 ounces.
Range is 15.98 16.02 ounces.
Lower specification limit = 15.98 ounces or LSPEC = 15.98 ounces
Upper specification limit = 16.02 ounces or USPEC = 16.02 ounces
 Specifications and Conformance Quality

A product which meets its specification has

conformance quality.
Capable process: a process which
consistently produces products that have
conformance quality.
Must be in control and meet specifications
 Quality Measures
Attributes and Variables
Discrete measures
Discrete means separate or distinct
Good/bad, yes/no (p charts) - Does the product meet
standards?
Count of defects (c charts) the count is a whole number
Variables continuous numerical measures
Length, diameter, weight, height, time, speed,
temperature, pressure - does not have to be a whole
number
Controlled with x-bar and R charts
 SPC Applied to Services (1)

A service defect is a failure to meet customer

requirements.
Different customers have different requirements.

Examples of attribute measures used in services

Customer satisfaction surveys provides customer

perceptions
Reports from mystery shoppers, based on

standards
Employee or supervisor inspects cleanliness, etc.,

according to standards

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 SPC Applied to Services (2)

Examples of variable measures used in

services
Waiting time and service time
On-time service delivery
Accuracy
Number of stockouts (retail and distribution)
Percentage of lost luggage (airlines)
Web site availability (online retailing or technical
support)

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 SPC Applied to Services (3)

Hospitals
timeliness and quickness of care, staff responses to requests,
accuracy of lab tests, cleanliness, courtesy, accuracy of
paperwork, speed of admittance and checkouts
Grocery stores
waiting time to check out, frequency of out-of-stock items,
quality of food items, cleanliness, customer complaints,
checkout register errors
Airlines
flight delays, lost luggage and luggage handling, waiting time
at ticket counters and check-in, agent and flight attendant
courtesy, accurate flight information, passenger cabin
cleanliness and maintenance

Copyright 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 3-14

 SPC Applied to Services (4)

Fast-food restaurants
waiting time for service, customer complaints,
cleanliness, food quality, order accuracy, employee
courtesy
Catalogue-order companies
order accuracy, operator knowledge and courtesy,
packaging, delivery time, phone order waiting time
Insurance companies
billing accuracy, timeliness of claims processing,
agent availability and response time

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 Process Control Chart
Out of control
Upper
control
limit

Process
average

Lower
control
limit

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Sample number

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 Control Charts for
Variables
Range chart ( R-Chart )
uses amount of dispersion in a
sample
Mean chart ( x -Chart )
uses process average of a
sample

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 Control Charts for Variables

Mean chart: sample means are plotted.

Range chart: sample ranges are plotted.
Two cases:
The standard deviation is known
The standard deviation is unknown.

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SPC for Variables
The Normal Distribution
= the population mean
= the standard deviation
for the population
99.74% of the area under the
normal curve is between
- 3 and + 3
 SPC for Variables
The Central Limit Theorem
Samples are taken from a distribution with
mean and standard deviation .
k = the number of samples
n = the number of units in each sample
The sample means are normally distributed

with mean and standard deviation x
n
when k is large.
 x-bar Chart:
Standard Deviation Known

UCL = =
x + z x LCL = =
x - z x

= x1 + x2 + ...
x
xn
=
n
where
=
x = average of sample
means
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 x-bar Chart Example:
Standard Deviation Known (cont.)
Given: The standard deviation is 0.08

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 x-bar Chart Example:
Standard Deviation Known (cont.)

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 x-bar Chart Example:
Standard Deviation Unknown

=A R
UCL = x + LCL =
= x - A2R
2

A2 is a factor that depends on n,

the number of units in each sample

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 Control
Limits
In this problem,
n=5

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 x-bar Chart Example:
Standard Deviation Unknown
OBSERVATIONS (SLIP- RING DIAMETER, CM)
SAMPLE k 1 2 3 4 5 x R
1 5.02 5.01 4.94 4.99 4.96 4.98 0.08
2 5.01 5.03 5.07 4.95 4.96 5.00 0.12
3 4.99 5.00 4.93 4.92 4.99 4.97 0.08
4 5.03 4.91 5.01 4.98 4.89 4.96 0.14
5 4.95 4.92 5.03 5.05 5.01 4.99 0.13
6 4.97 5.06 5.06 4.96 5.03 5.01 0.10
7 5.05 5.01 5.10 4.96 4.99 5.02 0.14
8 5.09 5.10 5.00 4.99 5.08 5.05 0.11
9 5.14 5.10 4.99 5.08 5.09 5.08 0.15
10 5.01 4.98 5.08 5.07 4.99 5.03 0.10
50.09 1.15

Example 15.4
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 x-bar Chart Example:
Standard Deviation Unknown (cont.)
R 1.15
R= = =
0.115k 10

= x 50.09
x= = = 5.01 cm
k 10

UCL = x= + A2R = 5.01 + (0.58)(0.115) = 5.08

LCL = x= - A2R = 5.01 - (0.58)(0.115) = 4.94

Retrieve Factor Value A2
Copyright 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 3-27
 5.10

5.08
UCL = 5.08
5.06

5.04

5.02
x= = 5.01
Mean

5.00

4.98

x- bar 4.96
Chart 4.94
Example LCL = 4.94

(cont.) 4.92

| | | | | | | | | |
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Sample number

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 A Process Is in
Control If
1. There are no sample points outside limits &
2. Most points are near the process average &
3. The number of points above and below the
center line is about equal &
4. The points appear to be randomly distributed

This is only a rough guide. Quality analysts

use more precise rules.

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 R- Chart
UCL = D4R LCL = D3R

R
R=
k
where
R = range of each sample
k = number of samples

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 R-Chart Example
OBSERVATIONS (SLIP-RING DIAMETER, CM)
SAMPLE k 1 2 3 4 5 x R
1 5.02 5.01 4.94 4.99 4.96 4.98 0.08
2 5.01 5.03 5.07 4.95 4.96 5.00 0.12
3 4.99 5.00 4.93 4.92 4.99 4.97 0.08
4 5.03 4.91 5.01 4.98 4.89 4.96 0.14
5 4.95 4.92 5.03 5.05 5.01 4.99 0.13
6 4.97 5.06 5.06 4.96 5.03 5.01 0.10
7 5.05 5.01 5.10 4.96 4.99 5.02 0.14
8 5.09 5.10 5.00 4.99 5.08 5.05 0.11
9 5.14 5.10 4.99 5.08 5.09 5.08 0.15
10 5.01 4.98 5.08 5.07 4.99 5.03 0.10
50.09 1.15

Example 15.3
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 R-Chart Example (cont.)

UCL = D4R = 2.11(0.115) =

0.243

LCL = D3R = 0(0.115) = 0

Retrieve Factor Values D3 and D4

Example 15.3
Copyright 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 3-32
 R-Chart Example (cont.)
0.28
0.24
UCL = 0.243
0.20
0.16
Range

R = 0.115
0.12
0.08
0.04
LCL = 0
0 | | | | | | | | | |
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Sample number

Copyright 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 3-33

 Using x- bar and R-Charts
Together
Process average and process variability must be
in control
It is possible for samples to have very narrow
ranges, but their averages might be beyond
control limits
It is possible for sample averages to be in
control, but ranges might be very large
It is possible for an R-chart to exhibit a distinct
downward trend, suggesting some nonrandom
cause is reducing variation

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 Non-random Patterns in Control Charts
Change in Mean
UCL

UCL

LCL

Sample observations
consistently below the LCL
center line
Sample observations
consistently above the
center line
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 Non-random Patterns in Control Charts
Trend
UCL

UCL

LCL

Sample observations
consistently increasing LCL

Sample observations
consistently decreasing

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 Process Capability

Tolerances
design specifications reflecting product
requirements
Process capability
range of natural variability in a process
what we measure with control charts
A capable process consistently produces
products that conform to specifications

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2009 John byInc.
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