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ControlCharts|PavementInteractive

QC&QAStatisticalAcceptanceControlCharts

ControlCharts
Publishdate:August15,2007|Author:PavementInteractive

Cite

Ingeneral,controlchartsareusedtoplotproductionvaluesandvariationovertime.Thesechartscanthenbeanalyzedto
determineifchangesinproductionvaluesorvariationareduetotheinherentvariabilityoftheprocessoraspecificcorrectable
cause.Controlchartsforvariablesarefairlystraightforwardandcanbequiteusefulinmaterialproductionandconstruction
situations.Fourpopularcontrolchartswithinthemanufacturingindustryare(Montgomery,1997[1]):
Controlchartforvariables.Invariablesampling,measurementsaremonitoredascontinuousvariables.Becausethey
retainanduseactualmeasurementdata,variablesamplingplansretainmoreinformationpersamplethandoattribute
samplingplans(FreemanandGrogan,1998[2]).Thisimpliesthatcomparedtoattributesampling,ittakesfewersamplesto
getthesameinformation.Becauseofthis,moststatisticalacceptanceplansusevariablesampling.
Controlchartforattributes.Thischartisusedwhenanumbercannoteasilyrepresentthequalitycharacteristic.
Therefore,eachitemisclassifiedasconformingornonconformingtotheparticularspecificationforthequality
characteristicbeingexamined.Thesechartslooksimilartocontrolchartsforvariablesbutarebasedonabinomial
distributioninsteadofanormaldistribution.Twoofthemostcommonattributecontrolchartsareforfractionnonconforming
anddefects.
Cumulativesumcontrolchart.Adisadvantageofcontrolchartsforvariablesandattributesisthattheyonlyusedata
fromthemostrecentmeasurementtodrawconclusionsabouttheprocess.Thismakesitquiteinsensitivetoshiftsonthe
orderof1.5standarddeviationsorless.Thecumulativesumcontrolchartisamoresensitivecontrolchartthatcanuse
informationfromanentiresetofpointstodrawconclusionsabouttheprocess.Basicallythecumulativesum(orcusum)

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chartplotsthecumulativesumofmeasurementdeviationsfromanaverage.Therefore,ifanabnormalamountof
measurementsfallononlyonesideoftheaveragethissumwillgrowandindicateanoutofcontrolcondition.
Exponentiallyweightedmovingaverage(EWMA)controlchart.Thischartissimilartothecumulativesumchartbut
insteadofweightingeachmeasurementthesame,recentmeasurementsaremoreinfluentialbecausemeasurementsare
weightedexponentiallybasedonwhentheyweremade.
Beyondthese,controlchartsbegintogetmorecomplexorarehybridsofmorethanonetype.

ControlChartsforVariables
ControlchartsforvariablesarefairlystraightforwardandcanbequiteusefulinHMAproductionandconstructionsituations.
Thefollowingparagraphsdescribethebasicconceptsinvolvedinacontrolchartforvariables.
First,variationneedstobequantified.Variationcanberepresentedinmanydifferentways,oneofwhichistheprobability
distribution(seeFigure1).

Figure1.Varianceshowninaprobabilitydistribution.

Mathematically,variationisdescribedasvariance:

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Thisequationistruewhentheentirepopulationisknown(e.g.everyitemproducedhasbeenmeasuredortested).Thisisa
raritytypicallythepopulationisonlysampledandthereforeonlythemeasurementsofaselectfewitems(orlocations)are
known.Inthiscase,theequationbecomes:

Varianceisdescribedbyasquaredquantity.Thisisnecessarytopreventpositiveandnegativedifferencesbetweenindividual
measurementsandtheaveragefromcancelingeachotherout.Unfortunately,thisresultsinvariationunitsalsobeingsquared.
Therefore,ifthematerialcharacteristicisdensity(kg/m3orlb/ft3)thenthevariationis(kg/m3)2or(lb/ft3)2,whichisnota
meaningfulquantity.Therefore,thesquarerootofvariation,thestandarddeviation,istypicallydiscussed:

Second,allprocessescontainacertainamountofrandomvariation.Thisinherentvariationmaycomefrommachineprecision
limits,smallvariationsinrawmaterialcharacteristics,smallvariationsinworkersabilityandsoforth.Thekeystocontrolling
variationareknowingwhenvariationisduetoinherentrandomvariabilityandwhenvariationiscausedbyanonrandom
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aspectassociatedwiththeprocess.Ifthevariationisassociatedwiththeprocess,itcanpresumablybereduced.
Distinguishingbetweenthesetwotypesofvariationinvolvesobservingaprocessthatisincontrol(variationisonlyduetothe
inherentvariability),thensettingupperand/orlowercontrollimitsthatcontainthisvariation.Then,anymeasurementsoutside
theselimitsareduetosomethinginducedbytheproductionprocess.Typicallytheseupperandlowercontrollimitsaresetat
3s(3standarddeviations)oneithersideofthetargetvalue.Assumingthemeasuredmaterialcharacteristicisnormally
distributed,astatisticalhypothesistestwillshowthatthereisonlya0.27percentchancethatameasurementwillbeoutsideof
thecontrollimitsandthusgenerateafalsealarm.Therefore,onecanbefairlycertainthatmeasurementsoutsidethecontrol
limitsareduetocontrollablefactors.
Third,althoughsamplestandarddeviation(s)isanacceptablewayofestimatingactualpopulationstandarddeviation(s),the
samplerange(R,differencebetweenthehighestandlowestsamplemeasurements)isadequateforthesmallsamplesizes
usuallyencounteredinroadwayconstruction.Sincethesamplerange(R)iseasiesttocalculate,itisoftenused.
Finally,Figures2and3aretypicalcontrolchartsforx
(sampleaverage)andR(samplerange).ThistypeofcontrolchartiscalledaShewhartcontrolchartafterDr.WalterS.
Shewhartwhofirstproposedthegeneraltheoryofcontrolchartsin1924.Thiscontrolchartcanbeusedtomonitormaterial
qualitycharacteristicssuchasHMAasphaltcontent,gradationorcompaction,orPCCstrength.

Figure2.Controlchartformeasuredairvoidcontentthatplotstheaverageairvoidcontentforeachlot.

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Figure3.Controlchartfortherangeofairvoidcontentmeasurementsineachlot.Eachpointrepresents
thehighestmeasurementminusthelowestmeasurementforthegivenlot.

Often,samplesareonlytakenoneatatime(asinasphaltcontentmonitoring)andthereforerequireaslightlydifferentcontrol
chartonethattracksindividualmeasurementsandamovingrange(MR).Figures4and5showacontrolchartforindividual
measurements.

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Figure4.Controlchartforindividualmeasurementsofasphaltcontent.

Figure5.Controlchartforthemovingrangeofindividualmeasurementsofasphaltcontent.

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Ingeneral,asaprocessbecomesmorecontrolled,theupperand/orlowercontrollimitscanbedecreasedtoreflectthis.The
generalruleofthumbistoactwhenmeasurementsexceedcontrollimits.However,manycompanieshaveexpandedonthis
anddevelopedtheirownrulessuchas(Montgomery,1997[1]):
1. Oneormorepointsoutsideofthecontrollimits.
2. Twoofthreeconsecutivepointsoutsidethe2swarninglimitsbutstillinsidethecontrollimits.
3. Fouroffiveconsecutivepointsbeyondthe1slimits.
4. Arunofeightconsecutivepointsononesideofthecenterline.
5. Sixpointsinarowsteadilyincreasingordecreasing.
6. Fourteenpointsinarowalternatingupanddown.
7. Anunusualornonrandompatterninthedata.
8. Oneormorepointsnearawarningorcontrollimit.

Footnotes(returnstotext)
1. IntroductiontoStatisticalQualityControl,3rdEd.JohnWiley&Sons,Inc.NewYork,NY.
2. StatisticalAcceptancePlanforAsphaltPavementConstruction.U.S.ArmyCorpsofEngineers.Washington,D.C.

Copyright2012PaviaSystems,Inc.

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