Seattle Concrete Company

Seattle Concrete Company (SCC) has been in the business of producing concrete mix for many
years. SCC produces bags of standard concrete premix that consumers typically buy at lumberyards
or hardware stores for home improvement projects. The concrete mix is put into 40-pound bags that
are shipped in large quantities to wholesale distributors.
A very simple process is used to produce the actual concrete mix, and SCC has absolutely no
problems with its basic production process. However, a critical issue is to make certain that the
correct number of pounds of the mix is placed in each of the bags. SCC would be subject to some
potentially serious fines and penalties if random sampling, after sale, showed any significant
shortage below the 40-pound fill that is specified on the bags. The process of filling bags is far from
perfect, so some natural variation in the fill of each bag is to be expected. To avoid potential
problems from this natural variability in fill, SCC has a targeted fill level of 41 pounds for each bag,
so that a slight underfill from the target would still meet the 40-pound specification.
SCC uses statistical process control charts to monitor the operations at their facility. They have been
operating on a single eight-hour shift basis, until recently, without any significant problems. A
random sample of 10 bags has been taken and weighed once every hour during shift operations, with
the results of the hourly sampling being noted and plotted on X-bar and R control charts, with all
control chart limits being based upon 3-σ standards. After the hourly sampling is done, the shift
supervisor is supposed to check the equipment that fills the bags, to verify that concrete mix is not
building up in the series of chutes that deliver the mix to the bags. If the buildup of mix in the chutes
becomes excessive, the end result is that there can tend to be a lot of variability in the fill of the bags.
If a buildup has started to accumulate, it is a relatively quick and easy task to have someone remove
the buildup by using a rake-like device to clear the chutes. The regular shift supervisor at SCC has
been on the job for many years and is known to be a very diligent worker.
Due to a high increase in demand, SCC has recently added a second shift to the operation in order to
significantly increase output. Totally different employees are used on the second shift. A high-
seniority worker from the first shift was given additional training to become the shift supervisor for
this new second-shift operation. SCC management wants to establish a procedure to monitor the
operations across both shifts with statistical process control charts; to be assured that there is
consistency in output at all times.
Some information is required to get started on this procedure, so some preliminary data has been
collected. The Excel sheet shows sample weights from 40 different sampling events during the
regular shift operation. These sampling events took place in each of the eight shift hours over five
consecutive workdays in a week, during which the operation was running normally throughout the
entire week. Following the discussion above, the sheet shows the recorded weights of the 10 bags
that were selected during each specific sampling event. Random samples of 10 bags each have also
been taken and weighed during each operating hour on the second shift, just like they have in the
regular first-shift operation. The results of sampling from five days of the second shift operation are
also shown.
SCC management wants to see a statistical process control analysis performed for each of the shifts,
showing the resulting X-bar and R control charts with 3-σ standards, over the 40 sampling events
that took place during each of the shifts. Any information that can be provided about the consistency
of output over the two shifts would be very helpful to SCC management.

Task: Analyse the data using statistical process control, and advise management. Refer specifically
to the sampling procedure and the process capability! Do you believe that they can deliver as
promised, and how much material, if any, is “wasted”?