STATISTICAL QUALITY ASSURANCE AND TOOLS

Ing. Salem Sherif Elfard, Doctoral Degree Programme (1) Dept. of Power Electrical and Electronic Engineering, FEEC, BUT E-mail: bradik@feec.vutbr.cz Supervised by Prof. Karel Hruka

ABSTRACT Collecting data, analyzing data, kind of data, applying appropriate tools is very important to improve quality, the aim of this paper is to give a necessary information to improve quality and a six-step process-oriented quality assurance cycle. 1 STATISTICAL QUALITY ASSURANCE

The statistical quality assurance is application of statistical principle and techniques in all stages of production, design, maintenance and services, directed toward the economic satisfaction of demand. The statistical quality assurance is a system of application that embraces all formal quantitative aspect of planning, design, purchase, production, services, marketing and redesign of product, it helps to find problems to state them in meaningful terms and to solve them, it provides a plan, a road-map, that leads to better competitive position. The great advantages of statistical thinking are that it allows managers to differentiate between common causes and special causes of trouble as shown in Fig.1., common causes constitute 85% of the problem; they are faults of the system, they affect all members of a work group equally.

85% com m on causes

15% s p e c ia l c a u s e s

Fig. 1:

computer system

They will remain until identified and removed by management, special causes on the other hand are specified to a particular employee, machine or work habit, special causes can

be detected by statistical signals, they can usually be identified and corrected by the individual. To look at it another way, common causes are usually related to effectiveness, whether or not the organization is doing the right things, special causes are related to efficiency, or how well things are being done, to succeed, an organization must be both effective and efficient. Distinguishing between common and special causes, thorough the use of control charts and other statistical tools is necessary in order to solve the problems, attempts to improve individual performance are in vain when the problem lies in the system, where only management can eliminate or reduce the impact of the problem. 1.1 PRINCIPLES OF COLLECTING DATA

When we introduce a particular method of doing a job, it is nature to consider whether the method is appropriate or not, the decision is usually based on past results and experience, or perhaps on conventional methods. The purpose of collecting data is not to categorize everything in to neat figures but to provide a basic for action; data can be divided in two types: Measurement data (continuous data), Countable data (enumerate data). The first critical step is to determine whether or not the data represent typical conditions: is data gathered likely to reveal the facts? Are the data collected, analyzed and compared in such a way as to reveal the facts? A first observation regarding the collection of useful data is closely related to the measurement, if data are to be at all helpful, there must be a consistent understanding about exactly how they are to be collected, this involves having operational definitions for quantities to be observed and personal who have been well trained in using the definitions and any relevant measurement equipment. Second data has to do with when and where they are gathered, the closer in time and space that data are taken to an operation whose performance they are supposed to portray. Third data collection should be made as convenient as possible and where at all feasible, the methods used should make the data immediately useful. Fourth observation is documentation, also data have to do with volume. Finally, one must take careful account of human nature, psychology and politics when assigning data collection tasks. People who are to collect data needs sufficient motivation to believe that data can help them do a better job and help their organization be more successful. 1.2 STATISTICAL TOOLS

Statistical quality control depends on the full utilization of developed techniques as well as the data resulting from the implementation of these techniques. The word statistical implies data and data reflects facts. The major statistical techniques in quality control are: Histogram, Pareto diagram (Pareto Charts), Cause and Effect Diagram (Fishbone Diagram or Ishikawa Diagram), Control Charts. Things to look for in Major Statistical Tools: 1. Histogram Is the distribution symmetrical or skewed? How great is the range or dispersion of values?

2. Pareto Diagram Has the appropriate variable been analyzed? Does the chart reveal the vital few and trivial many? Does the diagram indicate thorough analysis? Have the most likely cause been identified and investigated? Is the process in control? How does whats happening fit with specification for the process? Do the points display any kind of trend, hugging, runs of six or more points on the same side of the mean which should be investigated?

3. Cause and Effect Diagram

4. Control Charts

1.3

MODERN QUALITY PHILOSOPHY AND A SIX-STEP PROCESS-ORIENTED QUALITY ASSURANCE CYCLE

Modern quality assurance methods and philosophy focused not on products, but rather on the processes used to produce them, a sensible first step in any quality improvement project is to attempt to thoroughly understand the current and ideal configuration of the process. The important emphasizes of modern quality philosophy are: customer orientation, continual improvement. The business of proper measurement is foundational to engineering efforts to improve processes and products, if one cant effectively measure important characteristic of what is being done to produce a good or service, there is clearly no way to tell whether design requirements are being met and customer needs genuinely. Tab. 1 presents the six-step process-oriented quality assurance cycle and indicates corresponding tools which they are used to improve quality assurance and they are useful frame work for approaching most process-related quality assurance projects, they are presented as a list of steps to follow people who interested in the field of quality assurance to get started a class project in process oriented quality improvement. STEP TOOLS

Attempt a logical analysis to how a process - Flow Charts. works and where potential trouble stops, - Ishikawa Diagram. sources of variation, and data needs are located. Formulate appropriate measures of process - Basic concepts of measurement. performance and develop corresponding - Gage R&R. measurements systems. Habitually collect and summarize process - Simple quality assurance data data. collection principles. - Simple statistical graphs.
Assess and work toward process stability. - Control Charts

Characterize current performance.

process

and

product - Statistical graphics for process characterization. - Measures of process capability and performance and their estimation. - Probabilistic tolerancing and propagation of error. - Estimation of variance components.

Work to improve those processes that are - Design and analysis of experiments. unsatisfactory.

Tab. 1:

a six-step process-oriented quality assurance

1.4

BASIC CONCEPTS OF MEASUREMENTS

Conduct of the quality function depends heavily on quantification of product and process characteristics. This quantification is done through a systematic approach involving: 1. Definition of standardized units called units of measure which permit conversion of abstraction (e.g., Length, Mass) in to a form capable of being quantified (e.g., Meter, kilogram). 2. Instruments, which are calibrated in terms of these, standardized units of measure. 3. Use of these instruments to quantify or measure the extent to which the product or process possesses the characteristic under study, this process of quantification is called Measurement. The word Measurement has multiple meanings as: The process of quantification, e.g., the measurement was done in the laboratory The resulting number, e.g., the measurement fell within the tolerances

Measurement rests on a high organized, scientific base called Metrology (Metrology is the science of measurement). Product and process conformance are determined by measurements made by the test equipment used to measure process and product characteristics, a clear understanding of the meaning of measurements requires a minimal degree of understanding of the nature of measurement error, the starting point is to understand the nature of Accuracy and Precision: Precision: as defined by [3] a measurement system is said to be Precise if it produces small variation in repeated measurement of the same object or phenomenon. Accuracy: as defined by [3] a measurement system is said to be Accurate if on average it produces the true or correct values of quantities of interest. Accuracy and Precision of measurement is that of target shooting. Accuracy in target shooting has to do with producing a pattern cantered on the bulls eye, Precision has to do with producing a tight pattern. For example: if a fixed quantity x is to be measured with error its actually observed as
y = x+

(1)

Where is a random variable, with Mean and Standard deviation measurement . equation (1) says the mean of observation

y = x +

(2)

if = 0 , the measurement of x is accurate, if 0 , its called the measurement bias, the standard deviation of y is (for fixed x) the standard deviation of , measurement So measurement quantifies measurement precision in equation (1). REFERENCES [1] Juran, J.,M., Gryna, F.,M.: Jurans Quality Control Handbook, fourth edition [2] Ishikawa, K.: Guide to Quality Control [3] Vardeman, S., Jobe, J.,M.: Statistical Quality Assurance Methods for Engineers [4] Statistical Quality Control Tools: An Overview For Managers