Agenda Week 9

 Review homework  Week 10 assignment

• Ch 4 – 8, 10, 24, 26, 36, • Homework
44, 49 • Ch 5 – 2, 8, 18, and

control chart
 Lecture/discussion
handout
• Variable control charts • Read Chapters 6 and 7
• SPC at Maine Medical • Process Capability

• Other Variable

Control Charts

Control Charts
Control Charts
Chapter Five

Control Charts
Control chart functions
 Control charts are decision-making tools
- they provide an economic basis for
deciding whether to alter a process or
leave it alone
 Control charts are problem-solving tools -
they provide a basis on which to
formulate improvement actions
 SPC exposes problems; it does not solve
them!

Control Charts
Control charts
 Control charts are powerful aids to
understanding the performance of a
process over time.
Input Output

PROCESS

What’s causing variability?

Control Charts
Control charts identify
variation
 Chance causes - “common cause”
• inherent to the process or random and not
controllable
• if only common cause present, the process
is considered stable or “in control”
 Assignable causes - “special cause”
• variation due to outside influences
• if present, the process is “out of control”

Control Charts
Control charts help us learn
more about processes
 Separate common and special causes of
variation
 Determine whether a process is in a state
of statistical control or out-of-control
 Estimate the process parameters (mean,
variation) and assess the performance of
a process or its capability

Control Charts
Control charts to monitor
processes
 To monitor output, we use a control chart
• we check things like the mean, range,
standard deviation
 To monitor a process, we typically use
two control charts
• mean (or some other central tendency
measure)
• variation (typically using range or standard
deviation)
Control Charts
Control chart components
 Centerline
• shows where the process average is
centered or the central tendency of the data
 Upper control limit (UCL) and Lower
control limit (LCL)
• describes the process spread

Control Charts
Control chart for variables (Ch
5)
 Variables are the measurable
characteristics of a product or service.
 Measurement data is taken and arrayed
on charts.

Control Charts
X-bar and R charts
 The X-bar chart - used to detect changes
in the mean between subgroups
• tests central tendency or location effects
 The R chart - used to detect changes in
variation within subgroups
• tests dispersion effects

Control Charts
Step 1 Define the problem
 Use other quality tools to help determine
the general problem that’s occurring and
the process that’s suspected of causing
it.
• brainstorm using cause and effect diagram,
why-why, Pareto charts, etc.

Control Charts
Step 2 Select a quality characteristic
to be measured
 Identify a characteristic to study - for
example, part length or any other
variable affecting performance
• typically choose characteristics which are
creating quality problems
• possible characteristics include: length,
height, viscosity, color, temperature, velocity,
weight, volume, density, etc.

Control Charts
Step 3 Choose a subgroup
size to be sampled
 Choose homogeneous subgroups
• Homogeneous subgroups are produced
under the same conditions, by the same
machine, the same operator, the same mold,
at approximately the same time.
 Try to maximize chance to detect
differences between subgroups, while
minimizing chance for difference with a
group.
Control Charts
Other guidelines
 The larger the subgroup size, the more
sensitive the chart becomes to small
variations.
• This increases data collection costs.
• Destructive testing may make large subgroup
sizes infeasible.
 Subgroup sizes smaller than 4 aren’t
representative of the distribution averages.
 Subgroups over 10 should use S chart.

Control Charts
Step 4 Collect the data
 Run the process untouched to gather
initial data for control limits.
 Generally, collect 20-25 subgroups (100
total samples) before calculating the
control limits.
 Each time a subgroup of sample size n is
taken, an average is calculated for the
subgroup and plotted on the control chart.

Control Charts
Step 5 Determine trial
centerline
 The centerline should be the population
mean, 
 Since it is unknown, we use X double
bar, or the grand average of the
subgroup averages.
m

X i

X i 1
m
Control Charts
Step 6 Determine trial control
limits - Xbar chart
 The normal curve displays the
distribution of the sample averages.
 A control chart is a time-dependent
pictorial representation of a normal curve.
 Processes that are considered under
control will have 99.73% of their graphed
averages fall within six standard
deviations.

Control Charts
UCL LCL calculation

UCL  X  3
LCL  X  3
  standard deviation
Control Charts
Determining an alternative value for
the standard deviation
m

 R i
R  i 1

UCL  X  A 2 R

LCL  X  A 2 R
Control Charts
Step 7 Determine trial control
limits - R chart
 The range chart shows the spread or
dispersion of the individual samples
within the subgroup.
• If the product shows a wide spread, then
the individuals within the subgroup are not
similar to each other.
• Equal averages can be deceiving.
 Calculated similar to x-bar charts;
• Use D3 and D4 (appendix 2)
Control Charts
R-bar chart exceptions
 Because range values cannot be
negative, a value of 0 is given for the
lower control limit of sample sizes of six
or less.

Control Charts
Step 8 Examine the process -
Interpret the charts
 A process is considered to be stable
and in a state of control, or under
control, when the performance of the
process falls within the statistically
calculated control limits and exhibits
only chance, or common causes.

Control Charts
Consequences of
misinterpreting the process
 Blaming people for problems that they cannot
control
 Spending time and money looking for
problems that do not exist
 Spending time and money on unnecessary
process adjustments
 Taking action where no action is warranted
 Asking for worker-related improvements when
process improvements are needed first
Control Charts
Process variation
 When a system is subject to only chance
causes of variation, 99.73% of the
measurements will fall within 3 standard
deviations
• If 1000 subgroups are measured, 997 will
fall within the six sigma limits.

Control Charts
Chart zones
 Based on our knowledge of the normal curve, a control
chart exhibits a state of control when:
• Two thirds of all points are near the center
value.
• The points appear to float back and forth
across the centerline.
• The points are balanced on both sides of the
centerline.
• No points beyond the control limits.
• No patterns or trends.
Control Charts
Identifying patterns
 Trends
• steady, progressive changes in level
 Change, jump, or shift in level
 Runs - 7 points above or below; six
increasing or decreasing, clusters
 Recurring cycles
 Two populations
 Mistakes
Control Charts
Step 9 Revise the charts
 In certain cases, control limits are revised
because:
• out-of-control points were included in the
calculation of the control limits.
• The process is in-control but the within
subgroup variation significantly improves.

Control Charts
Revising the charts
 Interpret the original charts
 Isolate the causes
 Take corrective action
 Revise the chart
• Only remove points for which you can
determine an assignable cause

Control Charts
Step 10 Achieve the purpose
 Our goal is to decrease the variation
inherent in a process over time.
 As we improve the process, the spread of
the data will continue to decrease.
 Quality improves!!

Control Charts