Nov 2014 (Volume 1 Issue 6)

JETIR (ISSN-2349-5162)

Implementation of Statistical Process Control

Techniques in Industry: A Review
Pranay S. Parmar , Vivek A. Deshpande,
M.E. Scholar, Industrial Engineering,
Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering Department,
1, 2
G. H. Patel College of Engineering& Technology, Vallabh Vidyanagar, Anand, Gujarat
Abstract - Excessive variability in process performance often results in waste and rework. For improvement in quality and
productivity process variation needs to be reduced. For this Statistical Process Control techniques are used. SPC uses
statistics to detect variations in the process so that it can be controlled. Control charts are used in SPC for measuring the
variation in the process and that can be continuously improved by the different techniques used in the SPC such as 7 QC
tools. This paper shows applicability of the statistical process control techniques in different manufacturing industries. In
this research paper various research articles and the case studies on the implementation of the Statistical Process Control
Techniques in the manufacturing industries are selected for the review.
Keywords - Statistical Process Control, Control charts, 7QC Tools
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I. INTRODUCTION
Success in the global market depends on quality. Companies dont design poor quality; it is usually the result of a variation in
some stage of production. The concept of variation states that no two products will be perfectly identical even if extreme care is taken
to make them identical in some aspect [17]. Therefore, product quality depends on the ability to control the production process. This
is where Statistical Process Control- SPC, comes in [2]. Statistical Process Control (SPC) applies statistical methods to monitor and
control a process to operate at full potential. Statistical process control is a collection of tools that when used together can result in
process stability and variance reduction. Control charts are used in SPC for measuring the variation in the process and that can be
continuously improved by the different techniques used in the SPC such as basic 7QC tools. 7QC Tools are called Basic because they
are suitable for people with little formal training in statistics and they can be used to solve the vast majority of quality-related issues
[18].Management involvement and commitment to the quality improvement process are the most vital components of SPCs potential
success. A team approach is also important, as it is usually difficult for one person alone to introduce process improvements [1]. The
objective of an SPC-based variability reduction program is continuous improvement on a weekly, quarterly, and annual basis.
A. Control charts-Origin of SPC
Concern over variation in manufactured products produced by the Western Electric Company and studies of sampling results led
Dr. Walter A. Shewhart of the Bell Laboratories to the development of the control chart as early as 1924 and the concept of a state
of statistical control. There have been many extensions and modifications of the basic control charts of Shewhart over the years. They
are the principal tools of statistical process control (SPC) [1]. The control charts are the base for the continuous improvement of any
product quality. In any production process, regardless of how well designed or carefully maintained it is a certain amount of inherent
or natural variability will always exist. The variation in the quality of product in any manufacturing process results because of two
reasons namely, Chance cause and Assignable cause. A process that is operating with only chance causes of variation is said to be in
a state of statistical control. A process that is operating in the presence of assignable causes is said to be out of control [17].
A typical control chart has control limits set at values such that if the process is in control, nearly all points will lie within the
upper control limit (UCL) and the lower control limit (LCL) [1].

Fig.1 control chart

Types the control charts:
1. Variable Control Charts for the Continuous data

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Fig.2 Process improvement by chart

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2. Attributes Control Charts for the Discrete data

The control chart is an important tool for process improvement. Processes do not naturally operate in an in-control state, and the
use of control charts is an important step that must be taken early in an SPC program to eliminate assignable causes, reduce process
variability, and stabilize process performance. To improve quality and productivity, we must begin to manage with facts and data,
and not simply rely on judgment. Control charts are an important part of this change in management approach. Control charts are
widely used to establish and maintain statistical control of a process.
B. Basic 7 QC tools
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Check Sheet
Histogram
Pareto Chart
Cause and Effect Diagram
Flow Chart
Control Chart
Scatter Diagram

1.
2.

Check Sheet: Check sheets are simply charts for gathering data. They are easy to understand and very clean to read.
Histogram: A histogram is a snapshot of the variation of a product or the results of a process. It often forms the bell-shaped
curve which is characteristic of a normal process. The histogram helps to analyse what is going on in the process whether
the data is falling inside the bell-shaped curve and within specifications.
Pareto Chart: The Pareto chart can be used to display categories of problems graphically so they can be properly prioritized.
Pareto chart is a vertical bar graph displaying rank in descending order of importance for the categories of problems,
defects or opportunities.
Cause and Effect Diagram: The Cause and Effect Diagram display the relationships between different causes for the effect
that is being examined. The major categories of causes are put on major branches connecting to the main line, and various
sub-causes are attached to the branches.
Flow Chart: Flow chart breaks the process down into many sub-processes. Analysing each of these separately minimizes
the number of factors that contribute to the variation in the process.
Control Chart: As discussed above they are used to monitor the process.
Scatter Diagram: A Scatter plot is used to show how a pair of variables is related and the strength of that relationship. It is
constructed by plotting two variables against one another on a pair of axes.

3.

4.

5.
6.
7.

C. Manufacturing Industries
In order to survive in a competitive market, improving quality and productivity of product or process is a must for any company.
To make improvement in the company strong commitment from the top management is required [3]. Furthermore the critical success
factors are training and education, awareness of statistical methods, adequate measurement system etc. [4]. According to Prof. J.A.
Doshi, J.D. Kamdar, Prof. S.Y. Jani, and Prof. S. J. Chaudhary for taking proper decision Cause and effect diagram is very helpful to
the management. It is important to focus on the critical causes [15]. However, Laura M.M. Ribeiro and J.A. Sarseld Cabral found
some misuse of the control chart that cannot help to remove the assignable causes of variation [16]. The 7QC tools are found the base
for implementation of the quality management system in industry. Also for the data collection, analysis, measuring and decision
making the tools are found very essential [10]. Edgardo J. Escalante has given the relationship among variation, quality, and defects.
Also he has identified the common and special causes of variation & defects and derived benefits from reducing variation & nonconformities [17]. In six-sigma, for analyze, measure and control phase SPC tools are very useful and play the vital role for finding
causes [22].
II. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This paper aims to explore the benefits and the applicability of the SPC tools and techniques in the manufacturing industries of
different products. The different case studies and research articles are collected where the SPC has been successfully implemented in
the manufacturing industries. Here the industries are from the different products and they have applied the SPC for their need. The
case studies are from registered journals and publications. Total 12 case studies are taken from global industries. These case-studies
are presented and their benefits and result are discussed as mentioned below.
III. TITLE OF THE PAPER AND PUBLICATION
Table-1 contains list of case studies with the title, authors, the publication journals with year of published and the manufacturing
firm-product. These case studies are from global industries with the different products.

Table: 1 Research Summary

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Sr.
No.
1

2
3

10

11

12

Title

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Authors

Journal, Year

Manufacturing Firm

Improving quality with basic

statistical process control
tools: A case study
A case of implementing SPC
in a pulp mill
Quality improvement using
statistical process control
tools in glass bottles
manufacturing company
Implementation of SPC
Techniques in Automotive
Industry: A Case Study

Jafri Mohd. Rohani

& Chan Kok Teng

Jurnal Teknologi, 2001

Injection
mould lenses

JukkaRantama ki,EevaLiisaTiainen,TuomoKass
Yonatan Mengesha
Awaj,Ajit Pal Singh,
WassihunYimer,Amedie

International Journal of
Lean Six Sigma,2013
International Journal for
Quality Research,2013

Pulp mill

Dr. D. R. Prajapati

Shock
Absorbers/
Rod Seals

The use of Statistical Process

Control Technique in the
Ceramic
Tile
Manufacturing: a Case
Study
Investigation and analysis of
cold shut casting defect and
defect reduced by 7 quality
control tools
Process variability reduction
through Statistical Process
Control
For
quality
improvement
Quality Tools to Reduce
Crankshaft Forging Defects:
An Industrial Case Study
An Integrated Model for
Manufacturing
Process
Improvement
On the Use of Quality Tools:
A Case Study

AliMostafaeipour, Ahmad
Sedaghat, Ali Hazrati,
MohammadaliVahdatzad

International Journal of
Emerging Technology and
Advanced
Engineering,
2012
International Journal of
Applied
Information
Systems ,2012

International Journal of
Advanced
Engineering
Research and Studies ,2013

Automobile cylinder
block of grey cast iron
Grade FG150

B.P. Mahesh
M.S. Prabhuswamy

International Journal for

Quality Research,2010

Soap manufacturing

Pankaj Chandna,
Arunesh Chandra

Journal of Industrial and

Systems Engineering ,2009

Winco K.C. Yung

Journal
of Materials
Processing
Technology,
1996
Proceedings of the World
Congress on Engineering,
2013
Jordan
Journal
of
Mechanical and Industrial
Engineering ,2010

Crankshaft(
697
integral
counter
weight)
Printed Circuit Board

Statistical Process Control

Tools: A Practical guide for
Jordanian
Industrial
Organizations
Implementation
of
Statistical Process Control
for
manufacturing
performance improvement

Prof B.R. Jadhav,

Jadhav

Santosh J

Fbio A. Fernandes, Srgio D.

Sousa, Member, IAENG and
Isabel Lopes
Rami HikmatFouad, Adnan
Mukattash

Farzana Sultana, Nahid Islam

Razive, Abdullahil Azeem

Journal of Mechanical
Engineering,2009

plastic

Glass bottles

Ceramic Tile

Leather
components
Steel

Cigarette

IV. OBJECTIVE AND TOOLS USED

For achieving higher profit we have to improve quality and this can be done by reducing the defects. Most of the case studies
have similar objectives i.e. to reduce the defects as shown in Table: 2. Table: 3 indicate different tools and techniques used to achieve
the objective. This comparison helps us to analyse which of the 7QC tools are mostly applied to in the engineering organization to
achieve the goal.
Table: 2 Objective of the paper
Sr.
No.
1
2
3
4

Objective of the paper

To reduce the defect rate from 13.49% to 10%.
To implement SPC in the control phase of six sigma
To create awareness to quality team how to use SPC tools in the problem analysis
To reduce the 9.1% rejection of Shocker Seals.

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6
7
8
9
10
11
12

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To reduce unwanted ceramic tile defects and wastages

To analyse and minimise casting defect Cold shut
To improve the Quality by reducing the variability in the process
To Reduce Crankshaft Forging Defects
To implement the spc in plant to monitor process
To use quality tools to improve the level of quality management
To train quality team on how to held an effective Brainstorming session and exploit these data in cause and effect
diagram construction
To minimize machine breakdowns.
Table: 3 Comparison of Tools and Techniques used in paper
Tools and Techniques
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Check sheet
Yes yes yes
yes
Histogram
yes
Pareto Chart
Yes
yes
yes yes yes yes yes
Cause and Effect Diagram Yes yes yes yes
yes yes yes yes
Flow chart
Control chart
Yes
yes yes yes
yes
Scatter Diagram
Brainstorming
yes
yes
PDCA
Six-pack charts
yes

10
yes
yes
yes

11
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes

12

yes

yes

yes

V. BENEFITS AND RESULTS GAINED BY THE INDUSTRIES

In the Table: 4 the benefits/Results/Conclusion is given. After implementing SPC tools the organization has definitely gained the
benefit in form of reducing the defects.

Sr.No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

Table: 4 Benefits/Results/Conclusion of the paper

Benefits /Results/Conclusion of the paper
Improved quality by reducing defects from 13.49% to 7.4%
It is used as a part of implementing six sigma in control phase
The pressure failure defect reduced from 23.44% to 13.51%. Blistersdefect reduced from 3.14% to 2.51%. The total
gain annually due to reduction in pressure failure is 15391.2 Birr
The rejection of shock seal is reduced from 9.1% to 5% and process capability is 0.953 is achieved
From the Pareto chart about 61% of problems occur only due to types of cracks
The total rejection from cold shut was reduced to 6.6 % from 12.3% which is nearly 50% reduction
Increased the process Cp and Cpk
Reduced the rejection rate from 2.43% to 0.21% and rework from 6.63% to 2.15%
Scrap and rework rates have been reduced while quality yield is improved significantly
Reduced 29% in the number of nonconformities in the most
problematic section. Average number of nonconformities reduced 50%.
The steel tensile strength is the vital few problem and account for 72% of
the total results of the problems
The frequencies and time duration of cigarette making machine breakdowns and major causes of breakdowns are
found

VI. CONCLUSION
From the above study of the different case studies it can be concluded that to survive in the competitive market companies need
to produce the quality products. And quality can be achieved by using the SPC tools and techniques. From the study it reveals that
SPC techniques can give the significance improvement to the quality. These tools and techniques are simple to implement and it
needs the top management involvement and employee support. The SPC knowledge is important to the implementation and proper
guidance is required. In this paper it has found that the SPC tools can be applied to different product for reducing the defect. Thus the
SPC techniques are used globally to improve quality. Although SPC seems to be a collection of statistically based problem-solving
tools, there is more to the successful use of SPC than learning and using these tools. SPC is most effective when it is integrated into
an overall, companywide quality improvement program.
VII. REFERENCES
[1]

Douglas C. Montgomery Introduction to Statistical Quality Control,6 th edition, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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