• MODULE 3

• CONTROL CHART FOR VARIABLES

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 STATISTICAL PROCESS CONTROL
(SPC)

• Statistical process control is a collection

of tools that when used together can
result in process stability and variability
reduction

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 INDUSTRIAL QUALITY CONTROL (TIE 414)

STATISTICAL PROCESS CONTROL

The seven major tools are

1) Histogram or Stem and Leaf plot

2) Check Sheet
3) Pareto Chart
4) Cause and Effect Diagram
5) Defect Concentration Diagram
6) Scatter Diagram
7) Control Chart

3
 Chance and Assignable Causes of
Quality Variation
• A process that is operating with only chance causes of
variation present is said to be in statistical control.
• A process that is operating in the presence of assignable
causes is said to be out of control.
• The eventual goal of SPC is reduction or elimination of
variability in the process by identification of assignable
causes.

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 Statistical Basis of the Control Chart

Basic Principles
• A typical control chart has control limits set at
values such that if the process is in control,
nearly all points will lie between the upper
control limit (UCL) and the lower control limit
(LCL).

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 Statistical Basis of the Control Chart
Out-of-Control Situations
• If at least one point plots beyond the control
limits, the process is out of control
• If the points behave in a systematic or
nonrandom manner, then the process could be
out of control.

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 Control Charts for x and R

Notation for variables control charts

• n - size of the sample (sometimes called a subgroup)
chosen at a point in time
• m - number of samples selected
• x i = average of the observations in the ith sample
(where i = 1, 2, ..., m)
• x = grand average or “average of the averages (this
value is used as the center line of the control chart)

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 Control Charts for x and R

Notation and values

• Ri = range of the values in the ith sample
Ri = xmax - xmin
• R = average range for all m samples
•  is the true process mean
•  is the true process standard deviation

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 Control Charts for x and R

Statistical Basis of the Charts

• Assume the quality characteristic of interest is normally
distributed with mean , and standard deviation, .
• If x1, x2, …, xn is a sample of size n, then the average of this
sample is x  x   x
x 1 2 n
n
• x is normally distributed with mean, , and standard
deviation,
x   / n

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 Control Charts for x and R

Statistical Basis of the Charts

• The probability is 1 -  that any sample mean will fall between

  Z / 2 x    Z / 2
n
and

  Z / 2  x    Z / 2
n
• The above can be used as upper and lower control limits on a
control chart for sample means, if the process parameters are
known.

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 Control Charts for x and R

Control Limits for the x chart

UCL  x  A 2 R
Center Line  x
LCL  x  A 2 R
• A2 is found in Appendix VI for various values of n.

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 Control Charts for x and R

Control Limits for the R chart

UCL  D4 R
Center Line  R
LCL  D3 R
• D3 and D4 are found in Appendix VI for various values
of n.

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 Control Charts for x and R

Estimating the Process Standard Deviation

• The process standard deviation can be estimated
using a function of the sample average range.

R
 
d2
• This is an unbiased estimator of 

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 Control Charts for x and R

Trial Control Limits

• The control limits obtained from the equations UCL and
LCL earlier should be treated as trial control limits.
• If this process is in control for the m samples collected,
then the system was in control in the past.
• If all points plot inside the control limits and no systematic
behavior is identified, then the process was in control in
the past, and the trial control limits are suitable for
controlling current or future production.

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 Control Charts for x and R

Trial control limits and the out-of-control process

• If points plot out of control, then the control
limits must be revised.
• Before revising, identify out of control points and
look for assignable causes.
– If assignable causes can be found, then discard the
point(s) and recalculate the control limits.
– If no assignable causes can be found then 1) either
discard the point(s) as if an assignable cause had been
found or 2) retain the point(s) considering the trial
control limits as appropriate for current control.

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 Control Charts for x and R
• There is no analytical justification for choosing (First
Option) action, other than that points that are outside
of the control limits are likely to have been drawn from
a probability distribution characteristic of an out-of-
control state.
• (Alternative Option)- Of course, if the point really does
represent an out-of-control condition, the resulting
control limits will be too wide.
• However, if there are only one or two such points, this
will not distort the control chart significantly. If future
samples still indicate control, then the unexplained
points can probably be safely dropped.

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 Control Charts for x and R
• Occasionally, when the initial sample values of and R are
plotted against the trial control limits, many points will plot
out of control. Clearly, if we arbitrarily drop the out of-
control points, we will have an unsatisfactory situation, as
few data will remain with which we can recompute reliable
control limits. We also suspect that this approach would
ignore much useful information in the data.
• On the other hand, searching for an assignable cause for
each out-of-control point is unlikely to be successful. We
have found that when many of the initial samples plot out
of control against the trial limits, it is better to concentrate
on the patterns on control charts formed by these points.
Such a pattern will almost always exist.

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 Control Charts for x and R
Estimating Process Capability

• The x-bar and R charts give information about the

capability of the process relative to its specification limits.
• Assumes a stable process.
• We can estimate the fraction of nonconforming items for
any process where specification limits are involved.
• Assume the process is normally distributed, and x is
normally distributed, the fraction nonconforming can be
found by solving:
P(x < LSL) + P(x > USL)

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 Control Charts for xand R
Process-Capability Ratios (Cp)
• Used to express process capability.
• For processes with both upper and lower control limits,
Use an estimate of  if it is unknown.
USL  LSL
Cp 
6
• If Cp > 1, then a low # of nonconforming items will be
produced.
• If Cp = 1, (assume norm. dist) then we are producing about
0.27% nonconforming.
• If Cp < 1, then a large number of nonconforming items are
being produced.

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 Control Charts for x and R
Process-Capability Ratios (Cp)
The Cp statistic assumes that the process mean is centered at the midpoint of the
specification band. However, this may not be true.

If the process is not centered; (mean and standard deviation of the process)

USL     LSL
C pk  min( , )
3 3

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 Control Charts for x and R
Process-Capability Ratios (Cp)
• The percentage of the specification band that the
process uses up is denoted by
 1 
P̂   100%
C 
 p
**The Cp statistic assumes that the process mean is
centered at the midpoint of the specification
band – it measures potential capability.

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 The Operating
Characteristic Function

• How well the x and R charts can detect process

shifts is described by operating characteristic (OC)
curves.
• Consider a process whose mean has shifted from
an in-control value by k standard deviations. If
the next sample after the shift plots in-control,
then you will not detect the shift in the mean.
The probability of this occurring is called the -
risk.

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 The Operating
Characteristic Function

• The probability of not detecting a shift in the

process mean on the first sample is

  P( LCL  X  UCL) |   1   0  k

   (L  k n )   ( L  k n )

L= multiple of standard error in the control limits

k = shift in process mean (# of standard
deviations). INDUSTRIAL QUALITY CONTROL (TIE 414) 23
 The Operating
Characteristic Function
• The operating characteristic curves are plots of
the value  against k for various sample sizes.

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