Chapter 6 -Lecture I Statistical Process Control Using Control Charts

Lecturer : Asst. Prof. Dr. Emine ATASOYLU

Statistical Process Control Using Control Charts

Chapter 6 provides the necessary backgraound for

understanding statistical process control through control charts. Chapter 7: control charts for variables Chapter 8: control charts for attributes Control Charts are sometimes referred to as Shewhart control charts.. A control chart is a graphical tool for monitoring the activity of an ongoing process.

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Control Charts are sometimes referred to as Shewhart control charts..

A control chart is a graphical tool for monitoring the activity of an ongoing process.

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A typical control chart

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 The values of a quality characteristic are plotted along the

vertical axis The sample (in order of time) from which the quality characteristic is found are shown on the horizontal axis. Samples of a certain size are selected and the quality characteristic is calculated based on the number of observations in the sample. Examples for quality characteristics: average length, average diameter, average tensile strength, average resistance, average service time These characteristics are variables and numerical values can be obtained for each. Attributes are quality characteristics such as the proportion of non-conforming items, the number of nonconformities in a unit..
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The three lines indicated on the control chart

1) The center line representing the average value of the

characteristic being plotted (indication of where the process is centered) 2) Upper Control Limit used to make decisions 3) Lower Control Limit regarding the process Process being In statistical control: If the points are plot within the control limits and do not exhibit any identifiable pattern the process is said to be in statistical control Out of statistical control: If a point plots outside the control limits or if an identifiable pattern exists (rules will be covered later) the process is said to be out of statistical control.
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Control charts indicate:

1.

2.
3. 4. 5.

When to take corrective action Type of remedial action necessary When to leave a process alone Process capability refers to the ability of the process to produce within desirable specifications (chapter 9) Possible means of quality improvement

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Causes of variation
Variability is part of the process and should be understood by management and operators. Several factors influence variability like methods, equipment, people, materials, policies and environmental factors. Causes of variation can be subdivided into two groups 1) Common causes (chance causes) 2) Special causes (assignable cause) Control of a process is achieved through the elimination of a special cause. Improvement of a process is accomplished through the reduction of common causes.
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 Special Causes ( or assignable causes) is not part of

the process as designed and does not effect all items. Reasons of special causes can be: the use of a wrong tool, an improper raw material, an operator error.. Special causes are assumed to exist: if an observation falls outside the control limits or a pattern exists (process is said to be out of control) A control chart is used to detect the presence of special causes as soon as possible and allows to take appropriate corrective action.
Special cause eliminated (remedial action)
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and

the process is brought to state of statistical control again

Common causes (or chance causes)

Variability due to common causes is something inherent to a process. It exists as long as the process is not changed and is referred to as the natural variation in a process. It is an inherent part of the process design and it effects all items. A process operating under a stable system of common causes is said to be in statistical control.. Management alone is responsible from common causes Deming believed that about 85% of problems are due to common causes and only 15% of problems are due to special causes.

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In a control chart if quality characteristic values are within the control limits and no non random pattern is visible, it is assumed that a system of common causes exists and the process is in a state of statistical control.

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Statistical Basis for Control Charts

Center line is usually found in accordance with the data in the samples (mean of the process found by taking the average of values in the sample). The center line can also be a desirable target or standard value. b) Normal distribution play an important role in the use of control charts. The values of statistic plotted on a control chart (the quality characteristic) are assumed to have a normal distribution. Even if the parent population is not normally distributed, control charts for averages and other related statistics are based on normal distribution. c) The control limits are two lines -one above and one below the center line- which aid in the decision making process. d) The upper and lower control limits are chosen that the probability of the sample points falling between them is almost one (usually about 99.7% for 3 sigma limits-control lines placed 3 standard deviations away from the mean) if the process is in statistical control. (Remember areas under normal distribution for different sigma limits) If a part falls outside the control limits there is a reason to believe that a special cause exists in the system.
a)
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Selection of Control limits

: quality characteristic of interest and an estimation of Ex: the mean diameter of parts produced by a process Sample mean diameter of a set of parts chosen from a process E() represents the mean (or expected value) () standard deviation of the estimator (standard deviation of the sample mean)

The center line and control limits are given by: Center line (CL) CL= E() } mean Upper control limit(UCL) UCL= E() + k () Lower control limit (LCL) LCL= E() - k ()
k: number of standard deviations of the sample statistic that control limits are placed from the center line. k=3 control limits typically 3 standard deviations apart from the center line. (remember area under normal curve for 3 limits: 0.0026 probability of having sample static falling outside (10.0026=0.9974 within) the control limits if the process is in control) =/
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The choice of k is also influenced by error considerations. Two types of errors type I and type II- can be made in making inference from control charts. The choice of a value k is influenced by how significant we consider the impact of such errors to be. Type I and Type II errors will be covered later in this chapter.

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Example 6.1 (Mitra p.240) : A semiautomatic turret lathe machines the thickness of a part that is subsequently used in an assembly. The process mean is known to be 30mm with a standard deviation of 1.5mm. Construct a control chart for the average thickness using 3 limits if samples of size 5 are randomly selected from the process. The average thickness of 15 samples selected from the process is given in the following slide (table 6.1). Plot these on a control chart and make inferences. CL= E()=30 mm, =1.5mm, n=5, =/

UCL=30+3(1.5/ 5)=30+3(0.671)=32.013
LCL=30-3(1.5/ 5)=30-3(0.671)=27.987
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Some rules for identifying an out of control process

Rule 1: A process is assumed to be out of control if a single point plots outside the control limits.

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Rule2: A process is assumed to be out of control if two or three consecutive points fall outside the 2 warning limits on the same side of the center line

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Rule 3: A process is assumed to be out of control if four out of five consecutive points fall beyond the 1 limit on the same side of the center line.

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Rule 4: A process is assumed to be out of control if nine or more consecutive points fall to one side of the center line

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Rule 5: A process is assumed to be out of control if there is a run of six or more consecutive points steadily increasing or decreasing

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Types of errors
Type I Errors (false alarm): These errors result from concluding that a process is out of control when it is actually under control. Therefore type I error is also called false alarm. The probability of type I error is denoted by P(Type I error)= or P(false alarm)= When a process is in control and a point on the control chart falls outside control limits we assume that the process is out of control. Since usually the control limits are 3 away from the mean there is a small chance (0.0026) to have plots falling outside the control limits.
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Type I error in control charts

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Type II Errors
Type II errors (non-detection) results from concluding that a process is in control when it is really out of control. If no observations fall outside the control limits we conclude that the process is under control. However the process can be out of control due to a shift in the mean (changing process mean due to several reasons like new operator, operator decisions (like depth of cut) or change in raw material quality..) Whatever the reason is a sample statics can fall within the control limits and still a process can be out of control-in such a case concluding that the process is under control is a type II error. P(type II error)= or P(non-detection)=
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Type II error in control charts

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