TUM School of Management

Production and Supply Chain Management

Prof Martin Grunow

Technische Universitt Mnchen

Quality Engineering & Management

Session 4.2: Descriptive vs. Inferential
Statistics

Dr. Holly Ott

Production and Supply Chain Management
Chair: Prof. Martin Grunow
TUM School of Management

Holly Ott

Quality Engineering & Management Module 4

TUM School of Management

Production and Supply Chain Management
Prof Martin Grunow

Technische Universitt Mnchen

Learning Objectives
Understand the purpose and importance of descriptive statistics.
Review the concepts of histograms, box-and-whisker plots and the
most common measurements of location and dispersion.
Explain the purpose of inferential statistics and point estimates for a
population parameter.
Identify unbiased point estimates for the mean and standard
deviation of a normally distributed random variable.

Holly Ott

Quality Engineering & Management Module 4

TUM School of Management

Production and Supply Chain Management
Prof Martin Grunow

Technische Universitt Mnchen

Descriptive Statistics
Empirical methods to describe populations: arranging and
summarizing data to obtain useful information
Frequency Distribution: Histograms
Box-and-Whisker Plots
Measures of Location
Measures of Dispersion

2012 from "A First Course in Quality Engineering: Integrating Statistical

and Management Methods of Quality" by K.S. Krishnamoorthi. Reproduced
by permission of Taylor and Francis Group, LLC, a division of Informa plc.
Holly Ott

Quality Engineering & Management Module 4

TUM School of Management

Production and Supply Chain Management
Prof Martin Grunow

Technische Universitt Mnchen

Frequency Distribution - Histogram

Fill-weights of
deodorant in
cans:

Holly Ott

Quality Engineering & Management Module 4

TUM School of Management

Production and Supply Chain Management
Prof Martin Grunow

Technische Universitt Mnchen

Histogram - Example
A manufacturer of thermostats used in toasters and ovens was
experiencing considerable returns from customers because the
thermostats failed in calibration tests.
The failures were traced to the width of a small key-way, called the
dog-width, on a tiny shaft 3/8 in. in diameter.
These key-ways were typically cut on a milling machine that had two
cutting heads and the cut shafts were collected in a common hopper
below the two cutters.
The uniformity of the dog-widths had to be ensured in order to prevent
calibration failures.
2012 from "A First Course in Quality Engineering: Integrating Statistical
and Management Methods of Quality" by K.S. Krishnamoorthi. Reproduced
by permission of Taylor and Francis Group, LLC, a division of Informa plc.
Holly Ott

Quality Engineering & Management Module 4

TUM School of Management

Production and Supply Chain Management
Prof Martin Grunow

Technische Universitt Mnchen

Histogram - Example
A sample of 100 shafts was taken
from the hopper of one of the milling
machines and the widths were
measured and plotted in a histogram.
The histogram typifies a bimodal
distribution, which is a frequency
distribution with two modes, or two
peaks, indicating that two different
distributions are mixed together in this
populationone within the
specification, and one almost outside
the specification.
2012 from "A First Course in Quality Engineering: Integrating Statistical
and Management Methods of Quality" by K.S. Krishnamoorthi. Reproduced
by permission of Taylor and Francis Group, LLC, a division of Informa plc.
Holly Ott

Quality Engineering & Management Module 4

TUM School of Management

Production and Supply Chain Management
Prof Martin Grunow

Technische Universitt Mnchen

Cumulative Frequency Distribution

2012 from "A First Course in Quality Engineering: Integrating Statistical

and Management Methods of Quality" by K.S. Krishnamoorthi. Reproduced
by permission of Taylor and Francis Group, LLC, a division of Informa plc.
Holly Ott

Quality Engineering & Management Module 4

TUM School of Management

Production and Supply Chain Management
Prof Martin Grunow

Technische Universitt Mnchen

Box-and-Whisker Plots
The box-and-whisker (B&W) plot is another compact way of
representing a population with variability, and it is especially
useful when comparing several distributions with respect to their
central value and dispersion.

2012 from "A First Course in Quality Engineering: Integrating Statistical

and Management Methods of Quality" by K.S. Krishnamoorthi. Reproduced
by permission of Taylor and Francis Group, LLC, a division of Informa plc.
Holly Ott

Quality Engineering & Management Module 4

TUM School of Management

Production and Supply Chain Management
Prof Martin Grunow

Holly Ott

Technische Universitt Mnchen

Quality Engineering & Management Module 4

TUM School of Management

Production and Supply Chain Management
Prof Martin Grunow

Technische Universitt Mnchen

Measures of Location and Dispersion

Measures of Location
Average: X-bar
Median: X~
Mode: M
Measures of Dispersion
Standard Deviation
Range

2012 from "A First Course in Quality Engineering: Integrating Statistical

and Management Methods of Quality" by K.S. Krishnamoorthi. Reproduced
by permission of Taylor and Francis Group, LLC, a division of Informa plc.
Holly Ott

Quality Engineering & Management Module 4

10

TUM School of Management

Production and Supply Chain Management
Prof Martin Grunow

Technische Universitt Mnchen

Practice
Now let's do an exercise together in descriptive
statistics.
Please complete the next "Practice" module
before continuing with the lecture.

Holly Ott

Quality Engineering & Management Module 4