PROCESS CONTROL

Tolerance: It’s the limit or the extent to which the customer cannot find out the
difference.

Eg. If you buy a bottle of coke today and another bottle of coke after a month and
it tastes different i.e. you are able to find out the difference in taste, it means the
tolerance limits are not correct.

When you design a product it will have many dimensions of quality and for each
dimension of quality there maybe more than one specification set and whenever
you decide on a product you state the specification this way :
 Average value or normal value
 Low tolerance limit
 Upper tolerance limit
This is how a product is defined from the producer’s point of view.
 Process Normal distribution Error
Two sigma 0.977249868 4.55002639%
Three sigma 0.998650102 0.26997961%
Four sigma 0.999968329 0.00633425%
Six sigma 0.999999999 0.00000020%

Principle of Random variability: After a certain point the variation happens

without any known reason.

The process decides what is the defective rate, thus process selection is critical.
Process capability helps decide which process to choose.

Process Capability = Specification Width

Actual “Process Width”
Where Specification Width= Upper specification limit-Lower specification limit
For Process Width it is always considered that it is 6 sigma.

How do you know that the process capability is 1,2 or 3. The machine
manufacturer will not tell you the process capability because he does not know to
what use you will put it. For eg. If you buy a weighing scale, how will the
manufacturer know what you are going to weigh. Whether you are weighing gold
or potato, the process will be different in both the cases. In case of gold the
tolerance level is lower as compared to potato.
If you say I want to weigh potato 1 kilo + 10 grams,
Specification width= 1.01-0.09= 0.2
Process Capability = 0.2/ (6 sigma)
Select the sigma by finding out SD for 2000 readings and find out whether the
process capability is atleast 1.

In order to deliver good quality, the process selection is the key factor. Inspection
cannot eliminate defects.

PROCESS CAPABILITY INDEX

ì X - LTL UTL - X ü
C pk = Miní ; ý
î 3s 3s þ
where x̄= Estimated mean

THE CEREAL BOX PROBLEM :

• We are the maker of this cereal. Consumer reports has just
published an article that shows that we frequently have less than 15
gm of cereal in a box. The print on the pack shows contents to be of
16 gm.
• Let’s assume that as per the packaging act we must be within ± 5
percent of the weight printed on the box.
• We go out and buy 1,000 boxes of cereal and find that they weight
an average of 15.875 gm with a standard deviation of .529 gm.

Average value of the process = 15.875

Standard deviation of the process = 0.529

ì15.875 - 15.2 16.8 - 15.875 ü

C pk = Miní ; ý
î 3(.529 ) 3(.529) þ
C pk = Min{.4253; .5829} C pk = .4253
Whenever you do a manufacturing process whether it is 100% manual or fully
automated the process always has a variability. The process is likely to go out of
control as you keep on operating.

How do you find out that a process always remains under control?
Schewhart designed three control charts in order to find out the health of the
process, whether the process is under control or not.
Hypothesis: Whenever there is a process operating for a long period of time some
level of defectives will get generated which is normal. Do not change the process
if you get this level.

x̄ and R chart

• Mean control charts

– Used to monitor the central tendency of a process.
• Range control charts
– Used to monitor the process dispersion

Product specifications don’t change, there is wear and tear in the process. Control
charts are for the process.
When it is indicating in the X bar chart that the process has gone out of control, it
indicates that the mean value has shifted. It acts like a diagnostic chart also.
Whereas in an R bar chart the standard deviation changes, the process should be
stopped and corrective measure should be taken.
P – charts
Many quality characteristics assume only two values, such as good or bad, pass or
fail. The proportion of non conforming items can be monitored using a control
chart called a p-chart, where p is the proportion of non-conforming items found in
a sample.