IE 2130E

Quality Engineering I
Semester II, AY 2017/18

• Read the textbooks to understand the underlying concepts

• Study the examples in the textbooks, they are good illustrations
• Some of the questions in the tutorial are from the main textbook
• Use Microsoft Excel or any other software if needed, however, please make sure you
understand the concepts involved
• No submission of tutorial solutions required except when specified in the class
• No hard or soft copy of solutions will be provided, problems will be discussed in the
tutorial classes
 Topic 2 Tutorial Problems

1. The yield strengths of a batch of metal bars are measured. The observed readings are as follows:
102, 108, 128, 156, 96, 104, 126, 150.

Calculate by hand, the median, range, sample average, sample variance and sample standard
deviation.

Then use Excel, to generate the “Summary Statistics”. Which of these 5 sample statistics does not
have the same unit of measurement as the other

Answer: 117, 60, 121.25, 511.93, 22.63

2. A potato chip production supervisor is studying the problem of broken potato chips. He
randomly samples 100 packages and counts the number of broken chips per package.
Construct the histogram and the box plot. Determine the mode, median and inter-quartile
range, the whiskers and outliers.

11 9 9 8 10 11 7 8 12 9
12 10 4 11 11 13 8 5 8 10
8 14 10 10 10 10 11 9 10 9
8 8 11 8 6 10 9 5 10 11
12 7 10 9 7 4 8 8 10 12
9 7 9 11 12 11 7 8 10 7
10 7 10 7 8 11 10 7 11 8
13 10 9 9 6 4 8 10 8 12
9 10 9 10 10 11 10 9 7 10
9 9 12 9 9 8 13 9 7 11

Answer: Histogram, Box-Plot, 10, 9, 2, 5, 13, 4, 14

3. The output voltage of a power supply is normally distributed with mean of 5V and standard
deviation of 0.02V. If the specification of the power supply is 5V ±1%, what is the probability that a
power supply selected at random will conform to the specification?

Answer: 98.76%

4. A light bulb has a normally distributed light output with a mean of 3000 foot-candles and a standard
deviation of 50 foot-candles. Find a lower specification limit such that only 0.5% of the bulbs will not
exceed this limit.

Answer: 2871
5. The life of an automotive battery is normally distributed with a mean of 900 days and a standard
deviation of 50 days. What fraction of these batteries would be expected to survive beyond 1000
days?

Answer: 2.27%

6. A normal distribution is typically used to model the quality characteristic of a process and to
determine key quality parameters based on sample information. What if the data distributions of
the quality characteristics are not normal?

7. Engineer responsible for a chemical solution content control pulled 5 random samples per day to
analyze the concentration level of the control content. The observations are as follows:

Mon 226.8 382.7 347.1 271.1 417.6

Tue 362.8 243.2 332.2 329.5 304.2
Wed 155.4 177.7 224.6 423.6 352.1
Thu 258.0 392.9 144.8 257.6 508.2
Fri 276.5 501.2 395.2 316.8 250.1
Sat 406.3 341.3 308.6 405.0 236.1
Sun 327.8 333.7 161.7 509.5 307.8

• Use Excel to generate the summary statistics, construct histogram and Normal Probability Plot
• Comment on the process quality characteristic and possible direction of actions.

Optional

a. A normal curve has a mean of 0 and a α=1. Compute area under the curve:
a. Below z=1.62; above z=1.62
b. Between z=1.00 and z=2.00
c. Between z=-1.62 and z=0.33
Ans: a: 0.94738. 0.05262; b: 0.13591; c:0.57668
 Topic 3 Tutorial Problems

1. When taking samples or subgroups from a process, do you want assignable causes occurring within
the subgroups or between them? Fully explain your answer.

Answer: Hint: A typical industrial application scenario. In most SPC applications, process changes will
not be self-correcting, but will require action to return the process to its usual performance level.

2. A molding process uses a five-cavity mold for a part used in an automotive assembly. The wall
thickness of the part is the critical quality characteristic. It has been suggested to use 𝑋̅ and R charts
to monitor this process, and to use as the subgroup or sample all five parts that result from a single
“shot” of the machine. What do you think of this sampling strategy? What impact does it have on
the ability of the charts to detect assignable causes?

Answer: Hint: Wear in cavity, raw material changes, pressure and temperature changes are likely to
be the interests in such application.

3. A manufacturer of component for automobile transmissions wants to use control charts to monitor
a process producing a shaft. The resulting data from 20 samples of 4 shaft diameters that have been
measured are:
∑20
𝑖=1 𝑥̅𝑖 = 10.275, ∑20
𝑖=1 𝑅𝑖 = 1.012

a. Find the control limits that should be used on the 𝑥̅ and R control charts
b. Assume that the 20 preliminary samples plot in control on both charts. Estimate the process
mean and standard deviation

Answer: a) 𝑥̅ chart: UCL=0.5507, CL=0.5138, LCL=0.4769; R chart: UCL=0.1155, CL=0.0506, LCL=0

4. The data as shown are 𝑋̅ and R values for 24 samples of size n = 5 taken from a process producing a
component. The measurements are made on the inside diameter of the component, with only the
last three decimals recorded (i.e., 34.5 should be 0.50345).

Sample No. 𝑥̅ R Sample No. 𝑥̅ R

1 34.5 3 13 35.4 8
2 34.2 4 14 34.0 6
3 31.6 4 15 37.1 5
4 31.5 4 16 34.9 7
5 35.0 5 17 33.5 4
6 34.1 6 18 31.7 3
7 32.6 4 19 34.0 8
8 33.8 3 20 35.1 4
9 34.8 7 21 33.7 2
10 33.6 8 22 32.8 1
11 31.9 3 23 33.5 3
12 38.6 9 24 34.2 2
 a. Set up 𝑋̅ and R charts on this process. Does the process seem to be in statistical control? If
necessary, revise the trial control limits.
b. If specifications on this diameter are 0.5030 ± 0.0010, find the percentage of
nonconforming components produced by this process. Assume that diameter is normally
distributed.

Answer: a) Not in control, exclude Sample No. 12 and 15. Re-plot, the final chart 𝑥̅ chart:
UCL=36.25, CL=33.65, LCL=31.06; R chart: UCL=9.52, CL=4.5, LCL=0; b) 0.05%

5. Samples of n = 4 items each are taken from a process at regular intervals. A quality characteristic is
measured, and 𝑥̅ and R values are calculated for each sample. After 50 samples, we have

∑50
𝑖=1 𝑥̅𝑖 = 2100, ∑50
𝑖=1 𝑅𝑖 = 175

Assume that the quality characteristic is normally distributed

a. Compute control limits for the 𝑋̅ and R control charts.

b. What is the process standard deviation
c. The specification limits are 41 ± 4.5. Assume that if an item exceeds the upper specification
limit it can be reworked, and if it is below the lower specification limit it must be scrapped,
what percent scrap and rework is the process producing?
d. Make suggestions as to how the process performance could be improved.

Answer: a) 𝑥̅ chart: UCL=44.6, CL=42, LCL=39.4; R chart: UCL=8.0, CL=3.5, LCL=0; b) 1.7, c)
scrap=0.06%, rework=1.97%

More details to
c) LSL=36.5, Z=(36.5-42)/1.7=(-3.24), P(x<-3.24)=0.0006, Likewise for USL, Z=(45.5-42)/1.7 =>
0.0197
d) First, center line and spec target not in line, Spec is 41, process mean is 42. Action number 1 is
to shift the process center to target, then reduce process std dev. To achieve Six Sigma level
(𝑈𝑆𝐿−𝐿𝑆𝐿)
performance, if process already centered & no change in spec, 𝐶𝑝 ≥ 2. 𝑖. 𝑒. 6𝜎 ≥
𝑛𝑒𝑤
2, 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝜎𝑛𝑒𝑤

6. An 𝑋̅ chart is used to control the mean of a normally distributed quality characteristic. It is known
that 𝜎 = 6.0 and n = 4. The center line = 200, UCL = 209, and LCL = 191. If the process mean
shifts to 188, find the probability that this shift is detected on the first subsequent sample.

Answer: Probability of Not Detecting= 0.1587; Probability of detecting=(1-0.1587)=0.841=84.1%.

 Topic 4 Tutorial Problems

1. The data as shown are 𝑋̅ and R values for 24 samples of size n = 5 taken from a process producing a
component. The process is in-control.

Sample No. 𝑥̅ R Sample No. 𝑥̅ R

1 34.5 3 12 35.4 8
2 34.2 4 13 34.0 6
3 31.6 4 14 34.9 7
4 31.5 4 15 33.5 4
5 35.0 5 16 31.7 3
6 34.1 6 17 34.0 8
7 32.6 4 18 35.1 4
8 33.8 3 19 33.7 2
9 34.8 7 20 32.8 1
10 33.6 8 21 33.5 3
11 31.9 3 22 34.2 2

1. Find the process mean and estimate the process standard deviation
2. If the component design specification is 30 ± 10. Perform the process capability
analysis with the appropriate indices
3. If 𝐶𝑝𝑘 =1.67 is mandated by customer, what the course of action?

Answer: a) 33.65, 1.93 b) 𝐶𝑝 =1.73, 𝐶𝑝𝑘 =1.10

2. A process is in statistical control. The quality characteristic is normally distributed with 𝑥̿ =199
and 𝑅̅=3.5. The control chart has been established with subgroup of sample size n=4. The
product specifications are 200 ±8.
1. Estimate the 𝐶𝑝 and 𝐶𝑝𝑘
2. How much FNC improvement can be made, in ppm, if the process and mean can be
centered to the nominal value. Use Excel to obtain the small ppm values.

Answer: a) 1.57, 1.37 b) from 19 ppm to 2.6 ppm

3. A stable process with 𝑥̿ =20 and s=1.2 from long historical record. Specifications are set at
LSL=16 and USL=24.
1. Estimate the 𝐶𝑝 and 𝐶𝑝𝑘
2. Determine the FNC of the process
3. Management sets 𝐶𝑝𝑘 =1.67 has target and the specifications cannot be
changed, what is the next step of improvement and the parameter of interest
new target?
 Answer: a) Process centered, both at 1.11, b) 860 ppm c) process already centered and
operate at its potential, reduce std deviation to 0.80

4. A process is in control with 𝑥̿ =100, 𝑠̅=2.05, n=5. The process specifications are 95 ± 10. The
quality characteristic has a normal distribution.

1. Estimate the potential process capability

2. Estimate the actual capability
3. How much could the fallout in the process be reduced if the process were corrected
to operate at the nominal specification

Answer: a) 𝐶𝑝 =1.53 𝑏) 𝐶𝑝𝑘 =0.76 c) From 1.1% or 11,010 ppm to 4.5 ppm

5. Consider the 2 processes A and B which produce the same product. The processes are in
statistical control and sample size n=10 are used for the control charts. The quality
characteristic is normally distributed

Center Line Value for Process A Process B

𝑋̅ chart 100 105
𝑆 chart 3 1

Specifications are at 100 ± 10. Calculate the 𝐶𝑝 and 𝐶𝑝𝑘 for each process and interpret the
values. Which process would you prefer to use? Any potential improvement plan after your
decision?

Answer: Process A: 𝐶𝑝 = 𝐶𝑝𝑘 =1.08 Process B: 𝐶𝑝 =3.24 and 𝐶𝑝𝑘 =1.62

6. With only the 𝐶𝑝 and 𝐶𝑝𝑘 values given, derive and fill in the ppm values of the highlighted
cells in the table:

1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 2 Cp

0.5 66,810.6 66,807.4 66,807.2 66,807.2 66,807.2 66,807.2 66,807.2 66,807.2 66,807.2 66,807.2 66,807.2
0.75 12,312.9 12,231.3 12,224.8 12,224.5 12,224.5 12,224.5 12,224.5 12,224.5 12,224.5 12,224.5 12,224.5
0.9 3,950.4 3,515.1 3,470.4 3,467.1 3,467.0 3,467.0 3,467.0 3,467.0 3,467.0 3,467.0 3,467.0
1 2,699.8 1,363.2 1,350.7 1,349.9 1,349.9 1,349.9 1,349.9 1,349.9 1,349.9 1,349.9
1.2 172.5 159.9 159.1 159.1 159.1 159.1 159.1 159.1
1.3 51.5 48.3 48.1 48.1 48.1 48.1 48.1
1.33 38.2 33.0 33.0 33.0 33.0 33.0
1.4 14.1 13.4 13.3 13.3 13.3 13.3
1.5 3.6 3.4 3.4 3.4 3.4
1.6 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8
1.7 0.2 0.2 0.2
1.75 0.1 0.1
2 0.0
Cpk