StatisticalProcessControl(SPC)

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WhatisSPC?

WhyuseSPC?

Recommendedreading

Cm
Cmk
Cp
Cpk
Thesixfactors
Capability
TargetValue

FAQ

Glossary

Contact

Targetvalueoffset
Normaldistributioncurve
PPM
SixSigma
Standarddeviation
Controllimits
SubgroupNew

Cm(capabilitymachine)
TheCmindexdescribesmachinecapabilityitisthenumber
oftimesthespreadofthemachinefitsintothetolerance
width.ThehigherthevalueofCm,thebetterthemachine.
Example:ifCm=2.5,thespreadfits2timesintothe
tolerancewidth,whileCm=1meansthatthespreadis
equaltothetolerancewidth.
Notethatevenifthespreadisoffcentre,itisstillthesame
size(Cmindex).Thefiguretakesnoaccountofwherethe
spreadispositionedinrelationtotheupperandlower
tolerancelimits,butsimplyexpressestherelationship
betweenthewidthofthespreadandthetolerancewidth
(seeFig.1).
Readmoreaboutcapability
Gototop

Cmk(capabilitymachineindex)
Ifyoualsowanttostudythepositionofthemachines
capabilityinrelationtothetolerancelimits,youusethe
Cmkindex,whichdescribesthecapabilitycorrectedfor
position.ItisnotmuchusehavingahighCmindexifthe
machinesettingiswayoffcentreinrelationtothemiddleof
thetolerancerange.
AhighCmkindexmeans,then,thatyouhaveagood
machinewithasmallspreadinrelationtothetolerance
width,andalsothatitiswellcentredwithinthatwidth.If
CmkisequaltoCm,themachineissettoproduceexactly
inthemiddleofthetolerancerange(seeFig.2).
AnormalrequirementisthatCmkshouldbeatleast1.67.
Readmoreaboutcapability
Gototop

Cp(capabilityprocess)
TheCpindexdescribesprocesscapabilityitisthenumber
oftimesthespreadoftheprocessfitsintothetolerance
width.ThehigherthevalueofCp,thebettertheprocess.
Example:ifCp=2.5,thespreadoftheprocessfits2
timesintothetolerancewidth,whileCp=1meansthat
thespreadisequaltothetolerancewidth.
Notethatevenifthespreadisoffcentre,itisstillthesame
size(Cpindex).Thefiguretakesnoaccountofwherethe
spreadispositionedinrelationtotheupperandlower
tolerancelimits,butsimplyexpressestherelationship
betweenthewidthofthespreadandthetolerancewidth
(seeFig.3).
Readmoreaboutcapability
Gototop

Cpk(capabilityprocessindex)
Ifyoualsowanttostudythepositionoftheprocessin
relationtothetolerancelimits,youusetheCpkindex,
whichdescribestheprocesscapabilitycorrectedforposition.
ItisnotmuchusehavingahighCpindexiftheprocess
settingiswayoffcentreinrelationtothemiddleofthe
tolerancerange.
AhighCpkindexmeans,then,thatyouhaveagood
processwithasmallspreadinrelationtothetolerance
width,andalsothatitiswellcentredwithinthatwidth.If
CpkisequaltoCp,theprocessissettoproduceexactlyin
themiddleofthetolerancerange(seeFig.4).
AnormalrequirementisthatCpkshouldbeatleast1.33.
Readmoreaboutcapability
Gototop

Thesixfactors
Thesearethefactorsthataregenerallyregardedascausingvariationincapability
measurements:
Machine(e.g.degreeofwearandchoiceoftooling)
Measurement(e.g.resolutionandspreadofmeasuringinstrument)
Operator(e.g.howexperiencedandcarefulhe/sheis)
Material(e.g.variationsinsurfacesmoothnessandhardness)
Environment(e.g.variationsintemperature,humidityandvoltage)
Method(e.g.typeofmachiningoperation).
Gototop

Capability
Machinecapability
MachinecapabilityismeasuredinCmandCmkitisa
snapshotpicturethatshowshowwellamachineis
performingrightnowinrelationtothetolerancelimits.
Figure6showssomeexamples.
Whenmeasuringmachinecapabilityyoumustnotalter
machinesettingsorchangetools,materials,operatorsor
measurementmethods,stopthemachine,etc.Inother
words:Outofthesixfactors,onlymachineand
measurementareallowedtoaffecttheresult.
ReadmoreaboutThesixfactors

Processcapability
Processcapabilityisalongtermstudy,measuredinCpand
Cpk,thatshowshowwellaprocessisperformingin
relationtothetolerancelimitswhilethestudyisin
progress,aswellasindicatinglikelyperformanceinthe
immediatefuture.
Youcouldsaythatprocesscapabilityisthesumofaindex
ofmachinecapabilitiesmeasuredoveraperiodoftime(see
Fig.7).
Whenmeasuringprocesscapability,youmustinclude
everythingthataffectstheprocess,i.e.allsixfactors.
ReadmoreaboutThesixfactors

Index

Machinecapability

Processcapability

CmandCmk

CpandCpk

Machine&measurement

Allsixfactors

Stoppages

Nottobeincluded

Included

Adjustments

Nottobeincluded

Included

No.ofcomponents

2050insuccession

50250

Short

Long

Factorsinfluencingresult

Time

Gototop

Targetvalue
Imagineashaftfittedinaroundhole.

Ifthediameteroftheshaftisonthelargeside,itleaves
lessthanoptimumroomforlubricantbetweentheshaft
andthehole.Thisresultsinpoorerlubrication,fasterwear
andshorterlifetime.
Asmallishdiameter,ontheotherhand,meansgreater
thanoptimumplay.Theplaytendstoincreasefaster,which
alsoshortenslifetime.
TheassemblyworksbestatthetargetvalueT,whichinthis
caseisinthemiddleofthetolerancerange(seeFig.8)
Forunilateralpropertiessuchasrunout,surface
smoothnessormechanicalstrength,thetargetvalueiszero
(seeFig.9).
Statisticalprocesscontrolletsyoucentreyourprocesson
thetargetvalue.

Gototop

Centringvaluefortargetvalue
ThisisthedistancefromthetargetvalueTtothemean
valueofthemachineorprocessspread(thehumponthe
normaldistributioncurve),expressedasapercentageofthe
tolerancewidth(seeFig.10).
Thereislesstalkofcentringvaluefortargetvalue
nowadays,butthemaximumpermitteddeviationusedto
beintheregionofTO+15%.

Gototop

Normaldistributioncurve
Alsocalledthebellcurvebecauseofitsshape,thisisthe
patterninwhichmeasurementreadingsaredistributedin
mostcasesasaresultofrandomvariationsaboutthemean
value(thehighestpointonthehump,seeFig.11).
Notethatmostofthereadingsaregroupednearthehump
thefartherouttowardtheedges,thefewerthereadings.In
otherwordsitisnotverylikelythatyouwillfindany
componentsatallgivingwidelydeviantreadingswhen
makingnormalspotcheckmeasurements.Soitisnot
enoughthatthecomponentsyouhappentomeasureare
allwithinthetolerances.
Ittakesmeasurementsofalargenumberofcomponentsto
determinethesizeandshapeofthebellcurve,andthatcan
betimeconsuming.Butthestandarddeviationoffersyoua
shortcut!
Readaboutthestandarddeviation
Gototop

PPM(partspermillion)
Inaqualitycontrolcontext,PPMstandsforthenumberof
partspermillion(cf.percent)thatlieoutsidethetolerance
limits.Cpk1.00meansthat2700PPM(0.27%)ofthe
manufacturedpartsareoutoftolerance,whileCpk1.33
meansthat63PPM(0.0063%)arerejects.
NotethatthePPMindexcanbedrasticallyimprovedbya
relativelysmallimprovementinthecapabilityindex(see
Fig.12).

Gototop

SixSigma
SixSigmaisaphilosophyandamindsetforquality
improvementusedbycompaniesandorganisations.The
methodfocusesonminimisingwastebyminimising
variationsinprocesses.

Inconcreteterms,SixSigmameansthatthecompany's
processesmaintainsixstandarddeviationsfromthemean
valueoftheprocesstothenearesttolerancelimit.Itfollows
fromthisthatCpk2.0gives6sigma,whileforexampleCpk
1.33gives4sigma(seeFig.13).

Gototop

Standarddeviation
Onestandarddeviation
Thisisastatisticalfunctionusedtocalculatethenormal
distributioncurve,forexample.Theprocedureisthatyou
measurethedistancefromthemeanvalue(highestpoint
onthehump)tothepointwherethecurvechanges
directionandstartstoswingoutward.Thisdistance
constitutesonestandarddeviation(seeFig.14).
Thismeansthatyoudonotneedtomeasurehundredsof
componentstofindouthowmuchthemachineorprocess
isvarying.Insteadyoucancalculatethespreadusingthe
standarddeviation(seebelow).
Sixstandarddeviations
Tocalculatethenormaldistributionspread,yousimply
multiplythestandarddeviationby6togetthetotalwidth
ofthenormaldistributioncurve.Ifyouhadgoneonmaking
measurementsyoucouldhaveplottedthecurve,butnow
youhavecalculateditinstead(seeFig.15).
Thenormaldistributioncurveisthusderivedfromone
standarddeviationandconsistsofsixofthem.Thesesix
accountfor99.73%oftheactualresult.Thatalsomeans
that0.27%oftheoutcomeisnotincludedinthenormal
distributioncurve.

Gototop

Controllimits
Controllimitsareanimportantaspectofstatisticalprocess
control.Theyhavenothingtodowithtolerancelimits,
becausetheyaredesignedtocallyourattentionwhenthe
processchangesitsbehaviour.
Animportantprincipleisthatcontrollimitsareusedalong
withthemeanvalueonthecontrolgraphtocontrolthe
process,unliketolerancelimits,whichareusedalongwith
individualmeasurementstodeterminewhetheragivenpart
meetsspecificationsornot.
Thefunctionofcontrollimitsistocentretheprocessonthe
targetvalue,whichisusuallythesameasthemiddleofthe
tolerancewidth,andtoshowwherethelimitofastable
processlies.Thismeans,inprinciple,thatyouhaveno
reasontoreactuntilthecontrolchartsignalscertain
behaviour.
AcommonlyusedcontrolgraphistheXRgraph,wherethe
positionandspreadoftheprocessaremonitoredwiththe
helpofsubgroupsandcontrollimits.
IfapointfallsoutsideacontrollimitontheXgraph,the
positionoftheprocesshaschanged(seeFig.16).
IfapointfallsoutsideacontrollimitontheRgraph,the
spreadoftheprocesshaschanged(seeFig.17).

Howarecontrollimitsdetermined?
Thecorrectwayistoletthecontrollimitsadapttothe
process.Thatway,asmallerspreadintheprocessgivesa
narrowercontrolzone,whileagreaterspreadgivesawider
controlzone(seeFig.18).
Itisawidespreadmyththatthiswillcausetheoperatorto
adjusttheprocessmoreoften,butinpracticethereverseis
truetheprocessisadjustedlessoftencomparedto
operationwithoutSPC.Ifyouletthecontrollimitsfollow
theprocess,youwillreactneithertooearlynortoolate
whenthebehaviouroftheprocesschanges.

Otherwaysofdeterminingcontrollimits
Insomecasestheremaybedifficultiesaboutlettingthe
controllimitsadapttotheprocess.Onesuchcaseiswhere
theprocessusestoolsthatarenoteasilyadjustable,such
asfixedreamersorpunches.
Sincesuchtoolsoftenproduceverylittlevariationinthe
processandthereforeallowanarrowcontrolzonewithout
thepossibilityofadjustingthetool,itmaybebettertocut
thecontrollimitsloosefromtheprocessandlockthemtoa
givendistancefromthetolerancelimitsinstead(seeFig.
19).
Gototop

Subgroup
Asubgroupconsistsofanumberofindividual
measurements(normallythree,fourorfive)madein
sequencefromaprocess.Themeanvalueofthesesub
groups,liketheprocessitself,followsanormaldistribution
curve(seeFig.20).
Meanvaluesshowmuchlessvariationcomparedto
individualmeasurements.Thisfact,combinedwithcontrol
limitswhichfollowtheprocessinacontrolgraph,means
thatthemachineoperatornolongeroverreactscompared
towhenadjustmentoftheprocessisbasedonindividual
measurements.Theoperatorwilltherefore,asarule,both
measureandadjusttheprocesslessoften,whileatthe
sametimequalitywillbebetter.
Readaboutcontrollimits
Gototop