Proceedings of IMEC2004

International Mechanical Engineering Conference

December 5-8, 2004, Kuwait

IMEC2004-FM201-CP

AN EXPERT DIAGNOSTIC QUALITY CONTROL SYSTEM

Dr. Ashraf S. Youssef1, Prof. Fatin F. Mahmoud2, Prof. Gamal Nawara3

1
Industrial & Management Systems Engineering Dept.
College of Engineering & Petroleum, Kuwait University
P.O. Box 5969 Safat, 13060 Kuwait
E-mail: gomma@Kuc01.kuniv.edu.kw
2
Mechanical Design and Production Engineering Dept.,
College of Engineering, Zagazig University, Egypt.
Tel: +202-2406793, Fax: +965-4816137,
E-mail: faheem@aucegypt.edu
3
Industrial & Systems Dept.,
College of Engineering, Zagazig University, Egypt.

Abstract

Many researchers have tried to interpret control charts to build a good Decision
Support System (DSS) for manufacturing systems. This concept is concerned with
how computer technology can be utilized in the quality control area. Researchers are
trying to build a new philosophy of quality control based on the computer technology
that is available in many systems of manufacturing such as FMS. Many techniques
were suggested to build a good DSS, such as: Neural Networks, Expert System (ES),
Computer Vision, and Feature-Based Method No computer implementations have
been done in the previous works until now. Also the commercial packages did not
give the industries a good solution for the quality control decisions. The main
objective of the present research is to characterize how the system will identify the
causes of the out-of-control situation to take the reasonable corrective action to adjust
the process. The other objective is how to reach a decision about process status i.e.
“in- or out-of-control”. In this paper, a proposed Expert Diagnostic Quality Control
System (EDQCS) for diagnosing problems in flexible manufacturing system will be
presented. This system will help quality engineers to identify the possible causes of
out-of-control situations. This system depends on the interpretation of the control
charts (X-bar and R-charts) using AT&T rules and a pattern recognition technique. A
complete case study is also presented.

Key words

On-line Quality control, Control Charts, Expert Diagnostic System, Variable Control
Charts, Flexible Manufacturing Systems

Copyright © 2004 by IMEC2004, Kuwait 1

Introduction

The traditional Quality Control method is very difficult to implement effectively in

automated manufacturing systems, especially in Flexible Manufacturing Systems
(FMS). Quality of the product that is produced in FMS is the result of a cumulative
quality. It is not right to wait to check the product quality (characteristics) at the end
of the processes. The quality system has to build from the beginning and after each
process the Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM) system must measure the product
quality frequently based on the sampling plan that was defined in the system. This
quality system has to be observing the errors in the process earlier and advise the
system on-line with the right action(s) to adjust process and the sampling plan
immediately. This type of quality system calls on an on-line quality control system.
This system consists of two parts, one related to the quality control and the other
related to the sampling, Aly (1985). In this paper an integrated quality control system
linked with the ES is built to fulfill the requirements of the on-line quality control
system.

Researchers have developed rules to help constructing a good quality control

diagnostic system for automated systems. Their work can be classified into four
categories: a framework of ES and ES applications in manufacturing systems,
Knowledge-based representations, SQC patterns, and pattern recognition and
interpretation through a comprehensive diagnostic systems design. In this paper we
focus on developing a quality control system that is based on the ES concept of
pattern recognition and reference rules in order to improve the effectiveness of the
quality system.

The proposed Expert Diagnostic Quality Control System (EDQCS) will help the
quality engineer detect bad quality when it happens on time, identify the sources of
error, and take appropriate corrective action. The proposed system allows efficient
process control; it consists of a systematic procedure, and has a friendly user-interface
during analysis.

Expert System Applications in Quality Control

Evans and Lindsay (1988) had proposed a framework for developing ES for statistical
process control applications. The knowledge can be constructed into three sets,
domain independent which have analysis rules, interpretive rules that analyze the
patterns in the control charts in terms of process changes, and domain-dependent
diagnostic rules which assist in determining assignable causes and corrective actions.

Hon (1989) presented frameworks of ES for different applications in manufacturing

systems. He concentrated on the description, analysis, and assessment of various
working and new systems for manufacturing engineering applications. He concluded
that, ES have become an acceptable tool as a part of the existing array of techniques
available for improving manufacturing performance.

Pham and Ozteme (1992) described an online ES for statistical process control called
XPC. The XPC produces mean and range charts and interprets them automatically
from process capability point of view. The system is based on Leonard’s ES shell.
This ES is designed to employ process data and information regarding assignable

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causes and corrective actions in an integrated manner in order to implement the entire
problem solving features of statistical process control.

Vinod and Joseph (1992) developed a coupled ES to select a proper control chart,
optimize the design of the control chart and analyze the chart to identify an out-of-
control situation. A coupled ES was developed to automate the various steps used in
building control charts. The authors developed the knowledge base for the selection of
an appropriate control chart and to identify generic reasons for an out-of-control
process.

Tomas & Mohamed (1993) built an ES based on a military acceptance sampling

military standard. This ES was carried out in four stages. At the first stage, a complete
study of the manufacturing process, raw materials and inspection procedure was done.
Data collection forms were prepared and trouble areas were located to get more
information about the types of problems. At the second stage, inspection procedures
for incoming raw materials were established. A pilot computer code was generated to
facilitate inspection of raw material based on acceptance quality levels. An analysis
of critical variables affecting the product quality and the building of control charts to
monitor these variables was the third stage in this work. At the last stage, an ES was
developed to automate sampling procedures and establish and monitor statistical
process control.

An ES for sampling plan selection was presented by Islam, et al, (1994). A

knowledge-based system is proposed to fill the gap if the expert is not available when
needed. This system advises in selecting a specific sampling plan. The knowledge
sources are extracted from the published textbooks, government documents, journal
articles and interview with quality professionals.

V. Deslandres and Pierreval (1995) focused on the total quality control of a

manufacturing process. A knowledgebase for assisting the quality control system is
presented. This system is able to select the most suitable quality control methods,
according to the problem considered and the characteristics of the production.
Information about how to apply these methods in the shop is given as well as
indications about the resources that will be required. Twenty-five quality methods are
available in the knowledgebase.

Hooks, et al, (1995) presented an ES model of a Computer Integrated Manufacturing

system (CIM). An ES is included to enhance dimensional tolerance and data analysis
in quality control. This ES provides a final data analysis function for control. This ES
was designed using forward-chaining strategy. The main objective of this work is to
show how to apply the automated inspection system with the CIM.

Jury, et al, (1996) described a statistical process control system that can provide
operators with the probable causes of process problems before they occur. This
system has reduced downtime caused by out-of-control situations. Product waste has
declined because projection of product quality has allowed operators to make
adjustment before non-conforming parts were produced. New information is always
being received from online sensors that measure quality characteristics of the part.
Statistics are computed continuously to predict upcoming process conditions

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Knowledge-Based Representation

Expert systems have been used in industrial processes with improvements in

efficiency. Expert systems rely on rules normally acquired by a knowledge expert.
Walburn (1989) described a system for the automated acquisition of knowledge for an
expert system for process control. In all process environments, the control exercised
by the operators is important for efficient plant operation. This system used forward-
chaining. The working memory contains monitored plant variables while the
production memory contains a list of rules for establishing controlled variables
settings. The most important aspect of the system is the selection of data, which is
suitable for the induction of rules. He concludes that, this system is suitable for
continuous production systems.

Chuen and Norma (1992) concentrated on the important aspects of the ES design and
knowledge organization. A new similarity measure, useful in a clustering approach to
the knowledge organization is proposed. ES was constructed with the capability of
automatically identifying the out-of-control situations revealing the source of
variation, and suggesting further actions. This system does not take into account the
AT & T rules. It depends only on the pattern definition by defining unnatural pattern
(signal out-of-control), and then observing irregularities in the process to define the
cause.

Walburn and Powner (1995) presented details of the format of the automatically
gathered production data and how to identify the variables that are derived from the
production data in order to extract knowledge in the form of production rules. The
analysis presented concentrates on the number of parts produced in the production
process and the relationship of the number of parts produced to a number of other
factors derived from the production machine data. Knowledge is extracted from
production machine data by processing the data and inducing rules on the process
data. They concluded that the induced rules provide extracted knowledge, which
facilitates understanding of the production process.

Ben-Arieh and Carley (1996) presented an intelligent modeling methodology for

modern manufacturing systems, representing the structure, behavior, and functionality
of such systems, and emphasizing the cause and effect relation between the
components. Modern manufacturing systems exhibit flexibility, and intelligence
properties that are hard to model. The modeling methodology presented supports
various types of analysis that are important to manufacturing systems, such as rules of
consistency.

There are many ways to represent the knowledge for ES. James (1991) discussed
different modes to represent the knowledge. These modes are, Object-Attribute-Value
Triplets (OAV), OAV Network, Semantic Networks, Frames, Propositional Logic,
Predicate Logic, and Neural Networks.

The proposed EDQCS for FMS consists of four modules as follows:

1. User-interface. This module consists of an interactive user interfacing to
facilitate user input and show results; e.g., quality control charts and
characteristics, pattern type, and suggested actions for out-of-control

Copyright © 2004 by IMEC2004, Kuwait 4

 situations. The user interface may include the most appropriate input data
media.
2. Pattern analysis and recognition. This module consists of a proposed
framework for pattern recognition. The framework is based on AT&T rules
and the features of the patterns. This module takes the user input, identifies the
pattern type, and provides the control status (in or out-of-control). Users are
not allowed to update this module. This part was developed using Visual Basic
(VB) programming language. The status of the process and the pattern
identification are the main results of this module.
3. Inference engine. This module receives information from pattern analysis and
users, and fire the right action for the described status. It is based on the
forward chaining concept as per defined in the expert system shell (Exsys).
The inference engine was designed to ask the quality professional some
questions related to the production environment to decrease the numbers of
fired causes that are related to the out of control situation.
4. Knowledge base. This module consists of all information about the process
and personnel for a specific domain of applications. The knowledge base
adopts the attribute-value representation. The user is free to modify the content
of this module based on the production characteristics and requirements. The
suggested approach was modified and implemented.
The proposed EQCS may be extended to perform process capability analysis.

EDQCS Assumptions

The proposed system is developed as a decision support system. The analytical tool
part in this system is concerned with the analysis of the control charts for variables
(X-bar and R charts). The analysis of these charts is done in two steps. The first one is
to apply AT&T rules on the control chart. This test is done after the analytical tool
(computer program) computes the characteristics of the charts and plots them.

AT&T rules are generally used to increase the sensitivity of the control charts to small
process shifts. For example, if a point exceeded a control limit, we would immediately
begin to search for the assignable causes, but if two out of three consecutive points
exceeded only the 2-sigma warning limits, we might increase the sample frequency, if
the process was really out of control it would give us a high probability of detecting
this situation more quickly. It is also increases the overall false alarm rate
Montgomery (1992). Each of these rules was tested and valid based on the normality
assumption of the control charts. The following AT&T rules are applied.
1. One or more points outside the control limits.
2. Two out of three consecutive points plot beyond the two-sigma warning
limits.
3. Four out of five consecutive points plot at a distance of one-sigma or beyond
the centerline.
4. A run of eight consecutive points on one side of the centerline

If any of these states are identified, we conclude that the process is out-of-control. To
identify the causes of this situation, a second test is applied. This test is concerned
with the interpretation of the control chart pattern. It is done even if none of the
AT&T rules is identified. An out-of-control situation could also result from an
instability pattern even if all points of the chart lie within the control limits. This

Copyright © 2004 by IMEC2004, Kuwait 5

system defines eight patterns out of fourteen patterns defined by Western Electric
Company. The rest of these patterns (6 patterns) are defined as unknown. The defined
patterns are normal, increasing and decreasing trend, systematic, mixture,
stratification, freaks, sudden shift in level and gradual change in level patterns. The
fired decision in this part is identifying the process situation and the pattern name.
This part is implemented on computer using VB language.

The second part in this decision support system is the ES part. The production rule
method is used to build the rules of the ES. The inference engine uses the forward-
chaining algorithm. There are two different philosophies of the forward-chaining. In
one, all known data is delivered to the ES at the very onset of the consultation session.
In the second approach, only the specific data element that is requested during
consultation is delivered to the ES. The second approach is used in this work. All the
knowledge is collected from statistical handbooks and textbooks that are related to the
quality control area. Each pattern has a group of assignable causes. Any one of these
assignable causes may cause the pattern. When these causes are represented in the ES
rules, equal chance probability is assumed for all causes for each pattern. This
probability can be changed when the decision support system is applied on the
flexible manufacturing system (FMS).

EXSys Professional shell is used to build the ES part. Then, it is linked with the
analytical part. All tests are done on the R chart first to detect the process variability,
and then on the X-bar chart to detect the process mean.

System Framework

The proposed system consists of two major parts. The first part analyzes the quality
control chart. Users enter the data of the control chart (sample size and sample
number and observations) or the data can be entered to this part using a data file.
After that, the program computes the quality control chart characteristics and plots
these charts (X-bar and R chart). A computer program applies AT&T rules to check
whether the process is in or out of control. The next step is a check on the instability
of the control charts. The results of this analysis are transferred to the second major
part in this work (Knowledgebase). The ES will ask the user some questions about the
situation of the process. The process status and the causes that affected it will be fired.
Figure 1 shows the whole framework of the Expert Quality Control System.
In this work, visual basic was used to build the computer program (analytical part)
and EXSys shell 4.1 under windows was used to build the knowledge base.

The computer program

The Computer program includes the following activities:

1. Computation of the quality control chart characteristics (X-bar and R charts).
2. Plotting the quality control charts.
3. Computation of the process capability.
4. Interpretation of the quality control charts by applying AT&T rules first and
then applying pattern recognition procedure.
5. Identifying the process situation in or out-of-control and why.

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Knowledge base for EQCS

The knowledge base for the proposed system is represented based on the production
rules method. Also, forward-chaining was used for the inference engine. EXSys shell
is the ES shell used to report the knowledge base for this system. The knowledge base
receives the data from the computer program (out-of-control situation and pattern type
if there is a pattern). After that the consultation session is started to fire the final
conclusion about the process.

Control Chart Interpretation Procedure

The interpretation of the control charts is the vital part in this work (analytical part).
The procedure is done in two stages. At the first stage, AT&T rules are applied to
check whether the process is in or out of control. The second stage is pattern
recognition to check for process instability. Based on this procedure the process status
will be defined and the possible (assignable) causes will be fired from the knowledge
base (ES part).

EDQCS Rule - Base Building

In this work OAV triplet are used to build a knowledge base. This mode is suitable for
production rules. The following procedure is applied to build the knowledge base:

1. Collect data. All assignable causes related to instability patterns are collected.
2. Construct an attribute value table. The collected data is developed and listed in an
attribute value table.
3. Develop a rule, in this step a rule base is built using production rule method based
on the attribute value table. Production rule is constructed as follows:
IF Premise (Attribute = specific value)
Then conclusion (Attribute = specific value)
4. Computer implementation. An expert system shell EXYS Professional (EP) was
used to write the rules. It is an easy to apply rule-based ES and an excellent tool to
develop expert systems. It features backward and forward chaining, black
boarding, fuzzy logic, and frames. Also, it links with database, and spreadsheet
programs, it is a Windows platform application. Further more, MS-DOSTM,
Macintosh TM, UNIX TM, and VAXTM platforms are available. It can link with many
Under MS-Windows TM applications.
5. Verification. At the end, validation has to be done to ensure that the ES has
reached a correct decision.

Copyright © 2004 by IMEC2004, Kuwait 7

 ES Part
Pattern Analysis

Knowledge Model Base Statistical

Process Patterns
Information Base I Information Analysis

Status
Pattern
QCS
Inference
Characteristics
Engine Computations

Input Data

User
Interface

Figure 1 A Framework of the Quality Control System.

Copyright © 2004 by IMEC2004, Kuwait 8

Case Study

The computer implementation of the EDQCS was implemented. Three case studies
were tested to verify and validate the EDQS by Youssef (2002). In the present paper,
one case study will be demonstrated.

This case study was taken from the Western Electric Company (1985). This case
consists of 100 measures in 20 samples, each sample has 5 measures. Table 1 shows
the historical data, whereas Table 2 shows X-bar and R Charts results and Figure 2
shows these results.

Table 1 Data set of the case study

Sample Sample Size
No. 1 2 3 4 5
1 11.1 9.4 11.2 10.4 10.1
2 9.6 10.8 10.1 10.8 11.0
3 9.7 10.0 10.0 9.8 10.4
4 10.1 8.4 10.2 9.4 11.0
5 12.4 10.0 10.7 10.1 11.3
6 10.1 10.2 10.2 11.2 10.1
7 11.0 11.5 11.3 11.0 11.3
8 11.2 10.0 10.9 11.2 11.0
9 10.6 10.4 10.5 10.5 10.9
10 8.3 10.2 9.8 9.5 9.8
11 10.6 9.9 10.7 10.2 11.4
12 10.8 10.2 10.5 8.4 9.9
13 10.7 10.7 10.8 8.6 11.4
14 11.3 11.4 10.4 10.6 11.1
15 11.4 11.2 11.4 10.1 11.6
16 10.1 10.1 9.7 9.8 10.5
17 10.7 12.8 11.2 11.2 11.3
18 11.9 11.9 11.6 12.4 11.4
19 10.8 12.1 11.8 9.4 11.6
20 12.4 11.1 10.8 11.0 11.9

Table 2 X-bar and R Charts results

Item R Chart X-bar Chart
Center line 1.59 10.16
Control limits UCL 3.35 11.58
LCL 0 9.74

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 Figure 2 Typical R and X-bar charts of the data

In this section a demonstration of the features of the program will be presented based
on the case study Figure 3 shows the first menu that appears at the start of the
program. Figures 4 and 5 show the control charts and the characteristic data
corresponding to them.

Figure 6 demonstrates the analytical part of the program. The results of the analysis
show that the process is out of control due to AT&T rules one and two as shown by
the resulting X-bar chart. However the R and X-bar charts are natural patterns. On the
other hand, the variability chart (R Chart) was in control.

Clicking on the cause and corrective action button, the Knowledge base will be
activated and a consultation session will be started as shown in Figure 7. At the end of
this consultation the possible causes of the instability pattern will be fired if the
instability pattern is present in the control charts. The inferred fact is stated as
follows:
• AT&T rules were present
• No Pattern present for both controls charts (X-bar and R).
The results of the consultation are:
• Process is out-of-control with certainty factor 100%.
• Causes can not be defined
The results indicate that rule 34 was fired. Figure 8 shows the result of consultation
session (last menu of the program). In this case, the decisions mean that the quality
control engineer has to refer to the out-of-control periods and investigate what happen
at these points. An explanation feature is added to the program. Figure 9 shows an
example of the reason that rule 34 was fired to obtain these results.
On the other hand, in order to verify whether the decision about the pattern was
correct or not, a normality test is applied graphically. The results of the normality test
indicate that, the control charts (X-bar and R-charts) are normal. Figures 10 and 11
show the graphical results of the normality test on both X-bar and R charts.

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 Figure 3 First menu of the program

Figure 4 R chart of the case study

Figure 5 X-bar chat

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 Figure 6 Analysis results of the control charts.

Figure 7 The first menu of the consultation session

Figure 8 The last menu of the consultation session

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 Figure 9 Sample of the rules that were fired

2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
Z(i)

0
-0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
-1
-1.5
-2
-2.5
R(i)

Figure 10 Test of normality of R-Chart

2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
Z(i)

0
-0.5 0 5 10 15
-1
-1.5
-2
-2.5
X(i)

Figure 11 Test of normality of X-bar Chart

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Discussions & Conclusions

In this section, the most significant results will be discussed. Namely, we are
comparing the control chart characteristics done using the proposed system with those
that are obtained using the Traditional methods. Table 3 represents the summarizing
results of the demonstrated case study.
Table 3 Results Comparison of Results by Proposed and Traditional Methods
Item R Chart X-bar Chart
Center line No Difference No Difference
Upper Control Limits No Difference No Difference
Lower Control Limits No Difference No Difference

From the previous table, there are no significant difference between the results of the
traditional method and the output of the proposed system. Moreover, the proposed
system interprets all instability patterns and gives satisfactory solution. The main
contribution of this study is that it gives a comprehensive analysis of the quality
control issues and can be summarized as follow:
• A new framework of expert system diagnosis suggested and built to take into
account the AT&T rules plus instability tests to get the accurate process control
decisions and define the possible causes of the out-of-control situation.
• Fourteen patterns are classified into nine classes, and the proposed system can
be recognized.
• The causes of the instability patterns were collected and represented in a
knowledge base based on the production rule.
• Until now no commercial software includes the identification of control chart
patterns. Wise (2000) state that, the last version of the InfinityQS management
depends on normality test and process deviation in its decision. It does not give
clarification or reasons about its decision, does not give a complete
interpretation of the control chart patterns and does not have a supported
knowledge base as per the proposed system

The results of the program matched those of the handbook with no significant
differences. In addition, the program interprets the pattern of the control charts and
the results are sent to the expert system to diagnose the process. The inferred facts of
this case were the process is out of control due to AT&T rules, and no patterns in both
of the control charts. Normality test was used to verify the decisions. The test
indicated that the control charts were normal. That means the pattern decision was
correct. Also, after investigation of the control charts, the AT&T rules were applied
correctly. Further more, these decisions were matched with the decisions that were
documented in the handbook, and no difference was noticed.

In conclusion, it can be seen that, the proposed system makes an on-line quality
control system and the variable sampling plan more effective in the automated manufacturing
systems. An integrated statistical quality control package with expert system was
produced. This hybrid DSS was applied and verified. Also this package can be

Copyright © 2004 by IMEC2004, Kuwait 14

installed on the host computer of the FMS. The host computer for FMS is now almost
similar to the personnel computer and supports most of the software packages under
MS-Windows TM. Now, the effective diagnostic ES for FMS can be applied.

When the proposed system is applied, the chance of the human error will decrease
and quality improvement will increase. Also, the cost of production will decrease by
reducing the percentage of nonconforming units.

References

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Copyright © 2004 by IMEC2004, Kuwait 15

 printed and published by IEE, Savoy Place, London WC2R OBL, UK, pp. 4/1 –
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