Search results

1 – 10 of 498
Article
Publication date: 2 January 2018

Jeh-Nan Pan, Chung-I Li and Jun-Wei Hsu

The purpose of this paper is to provide a new approach for detecting the small sustained process shifts in multistage systems with correlated multiple quality characteristics.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a new approach for detecting the small sustained process shifts in multistage systems with correlated multiple quality characteristics.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors propose a new multivariate linear regression model for a multistage manufacturing system with multivariate quality characteristics in which both the auto-correlated process outputs and the correlations occurring between neighboring stages are considered. Then, the multistage multivariate residual control charts are constructed to monitor the overall process quality of multistage systems with multiple quality characteristics. Moreover, an overall run length concept is adopted to evaluate the performances of the authors’ proposed control charts.

Findings

In the numerical example with cascade data, the authors show that the detecting abilities of the proposed multistage residual MEWMA and MCUSUM control charts outperform those of Phase II MEWMA and MCUSUM control charts. It further demonstrates the usefulness of the authors’ proposed control charts in the Phase II monitoring.

Practical implications

The research results of this paper can be applied to any multistage manufacturing or service system with multivariate quality characteristics. This new approach provides quality practitioners a better decision making tool for detecting the small sustained process shifts in multistage systems.

Originality/value

Once the multistage multivariate residual control charts are constructed, one can employ them in monitoring and controlling the process quality of multistage systems with multiple characteristics. This approach can lead to the direction of continuous improvement for any product or service within a company.

Details

International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, vol. 35 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0265-671X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 31 December 2015

Jeffrey E. Jarrett

The purpose of this paper is to suggest better methods for monitoring the diagnostic and treatment services for providers of public health and the management of public health…

2035

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to suggest better methods for monitoring the diagnostic and treatment services for providers of public health and the management of public health services. In particular, the authors examine the construction and use of industrial quality control methods as applied to the public providers, in both the prevention and cure for infectious diseases and the quality of public health care providers in such applications including water quality standards, sewage many others. The authors suggest implementing modern multivariate applications of quality control techniques and/or better methods for univariate quality control common in industrial applications in the public health sector to both control and continuously improve public health services. These methods entitled total quality management (TQM) form the foundation to improve these public services.

Design/methodology/approach

The study is designed to indicate the great need for TQM analysis to utilize methods of statistical quality control. All this is done to improve public health services through implementation of quality control and improvement methods as part of the TQM program. Examples of its use indicate that multivariate methods may be the best but other methods are suggested as well.

Findings

Multivariate methods provide the best solutions when quality and reliability tests show indications that the variables observed are inter-correlated and correlated over time. Simpler methods are available when the above factors are not present.

Research limitations/implications

Multivariate methods will provide for better interpretation of results, better decisions and smaller risks of both Type I and Type II errors. Smaller risks lead to better decision making and may reduce costs.

Practical implications

Analysts will improve such things as the control of water quality and all aspects of public health when data are collected through experimentation and/or periodic quality management techniques.

Social implications

Public health will be better monitored and the quality of life will improve for all especially in places where public development is undertaking rapid changes.

Originality/value

The manuscript is original because it uses well known and scientific methods of analyzing data in area where data collection is utilized to improve public health.

Details

International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, vol. 33 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0265-671X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 31 January 2022

Simone Massulini Acosta and Angelo Marcio Oliveira Sant'Anna

Process monitoring is a way to manage the quality characteristics of products in manufacturing processes. Several process monitoring based on machine learning algorithms have been…

Abstract

Purpose

Process monitoring is a way to manage the quality characteristics of products in manufacturing processes. Several process monitoring based on machine learning algorithms have been proposed in the literature and have gained the attention of many researchers. In this paper, the authors developed machine learning-based control charts for monitoring fraction non-conforming products in smart manufacturing. This study proposed a relevance vector machine using Bayesian sparse kernel optimized by differential evolution algorithm for efficient monitoring in manufacturing.

Design/methodology/approach

A new approach was carried out about data analysis, modelling and monitoring in the manufacturing industry. This study developed a relevance vector machine using Bayesian sparse kernel technique to improve the support vector machine used to both regression and classification problems. The authors compared the performance of proposed relevance vector machine with other machine learning algorithms, such as support vector machine, artificial neural network and beta regression model. The proposed approach was evaluated by different shift scenarios of average run length using Monte Carlo simulation.

Findings

The authors analyse a real case study in a manufacturing company, based on best machine learning algorithms. The results indicate that proposed relevance vector machine-based process monitoring are excellent quality tools for monitoring defective products in manufacturing process. A comparative analysis with four machine learning models is used to evaluate the performance of the proposed approach. The relevance vector machine has slightly better performance than support vector machine, artificial neural network and beta models.

Originality/value

This research is different from the others by providing approaches for monitoring defective products. Machine learning-based control charts are used to monitor product failures in smart manufacturing process. Besides, the key contribution of this study is to develop different models for fault detection and to identify any change point in the manufacturing process. Moreover, the authors’ research indicates that machine learning models are adequate tools for the modelling and monitoring of the fraction non-conforming product in the industrial process.

Details

International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, vol. 40 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0265-671X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 May 2002

B.L. MacCarthy and Thananya Wasusri

The principal application domain for statistical process control (SPC) charts has been for process control and improvement in manufacturing businesses. However, the number of…

5096

Abstract

The principal application domain for statistical process control (SPC) charts has been for process control and improvement in manufacturing businesses. However, the number of applications reported in domains outside of conventional production systems has been increasing in recent years. Implementing SPC chart approaches in non‐standard applications gives rise to many potential complications and poses a number of challenges. This paper reviews non‐standard applications of SPC charts reported in the literature from the period 1989 to 2000, inclusive. Non‐standard applications are analysed with respect to application domain, data sources used and control chart techniques employed. Applications are classified into five groups according to the types of problem to which control chart techniques have been applied. For each group the nature of the applications is described and analysed. The review does not show a paradigm shift in the types of SPC control chart applications but does show clearly that the application boundaries extend considerably beyond manufacturing and that the range of problems to which SPC control chart techniques can be applied is much wider than commonly assumed. The paper highlights the critical fundamental and technical issues that need to be addressed when applying SPC chart techniques in a range of non‐standard applications. Wider managerial issues of importance for successful implementations in non‐standard applications of SPC control charts are also discussed.

Details

International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, vol. 19 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0265-671X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 April 2013

Sukhraj Singh and D.R. Prajapati

The purpose of this paper is to study the effect of correlation on the performance of CUSUM and EWMA charts. The performance of the CUSUM and EWMA charts is measured in terms of…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to study the effect of correlation on the performance of CUSUM and EWMA charts. The performance of the CUSUM and EWMA charts is measured in terms of average run lengths (ARLs) for the positively correlated data. The ARLs at various set of parameters of the CUSUM and EWMA charts are computed, using MATLAB. The behavior of the CUSUM and EWMA chart at the various shifts in the process mean is studied, analyzed and compared at different levels of correlation (Φ). The optimum schemes for both the charts are suggested for various levels of correlation (Φ).

Design/methodology/approach

Positively correlated observations having normal distribution are generated with the help of the MATLAB. Performance of both the charts in terms of ARLs is measured and compared at various levels of correlation (Φ). The optimal schemes of charts which give the desired in‐control ARLs are suggested for various levels of correlation (Φ).

Findings

For each level of correlation (Φ) various schemes of both the charts are suggested. Moreover those suggested schemes which give quick response to the shifts in the process mean is termed as optimal scheme. It is concluded that CUSUM schemes are preferred as compared to the EWMA schemes for quicker response. The optimal schemes of CUSUM and EWMA chart are also compared with the EWMAST chart suggested by Winkel and Zhang (2004).

Research limitations/implications

Both the schemes are optimized by assuming the autocorrelated numbers to be normally distributed. But this assumption may also be relaxed to design these schemes for autocorrelated data. Moreover sample size of four is taken while developing these schemes; various other schemes can also be developed for different sample sizes. Control charts for attribute type of data can also be developed for different level of correlation (Φ).

Practical implications

For a specific control chart, if the in‐control ARL of the process outputs of any industry is in accordance with the simulated in‐control ARL. It means the process outputs must have same level of correlation (Φ) corresponding to the simulated in‐control ARL and the suggested optimal schemes, corresponding to that level of correlation (Φ), must be adopted to avoid the false alarm rate. The correlation among the process outputs of any industry can be find out and corresponding to that level of correlation the suggested control chart parameters can be applied. Thus false alarms generated, will be minimum for the suggested schemes at different level of correlation (Φ).

Social implications

If the optimal CUSUM schemes are employed in process/service industry, there will be a considerable amount of saving in time and money expended in search of causes behind frequent false alarms. The rejection level of products in the industries can be reduced by designing the better control chart schemes which will also reduce the loss to the society, as suggested by Taguchi.

Originality/value

The research findings could be applied to various manufacturing industries as well as service industries where the data is positively correlated and normally distributed.

Article
Publication date: 10 April 2019

Boby John and Vaibhav Agarwal

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the application of the control chart procedure to monitor the characteristics whose profile over time resembles a set of connected line…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the application of the control chart procedure to monitor the characteristics whose profile over time resembles a set of connected line segments.

Design/methodology/approach

Fit a regression spline model by taking the subgroup average of the characteristic as response variable and time as the explanatory variable. Then monitor the response variable using the regression spline control chart with the fitted model as center line and upper and lower control limits at three standard deviation units of the response variable above and below the center line.

Findings

The proposed chart is successfully deployed to monitor the daily response time profile of a client server of an application support process. The chart ensured the stability of the process as well as detected the assignable cause leading to the slowing down of the server performance.

Practical implications

The methodology can be used to monitor any characteristics whose performance profile over time resembles a set of connected line segments. Some of the examples are the consumption profile of utility providers like power distribution companies, usage profiles of telecom networks, loading profile of airline check-in process, e-commerce websites, etc.

Originality/value

To the best of the author’s knowledge, construction of control charts using regression spline is new. The usage of the control chart to monitor the performance characteristics which exhibits a nonlinear profile over time is also rare.

Article
Publication date: 27 July 2012

Anupam Das, J. Maiti and R.N. Banerjee

Monitoring of a process leading to the detection of faults and determination of the root causes are essential for the production of consistent good quality end products with…

1715

Abstract

Purpose

Monitoring of a process leading to the detection of faults and determination of the root causes are essential for the production of consistent good quality end products with improved yield. The history of process monitoring fault detection (PMFD) strategies can be traced back to 1930s. Thereafter various tools, techniques and approaches were developed along with their application in diversified fields. The purpose of this paper is to make a review to categorize, describe and compare the various PMFD strategies.

Design/methodology/approach

Taxonomy was developed to categorize PMFD strategies. The basis for the categorization was the type of techniques being employed for devising the PMFD strategies. Further, PMFD strategies were discussed in detail along with emphasis on the areas of applications. Comparative evaluations of the PMFD strategies based on some commonly identified issues were also carried out. A general framework common to all the PMFD has been presented. And lastly a discussion into future scope of research was carried out.

Findings

The techniques employed for PMFD are primarily of three types, namely data driven techniques such as statistical model based and artificial intelligent based techniques, priori knowledge based techniques, and hybrid models, with a huge dominance of the first type. The factors that should be considered in developing a PMFD strategy are ease in development, diagnostic ability, fault detection speed, robustness to noise, generalization capability, and handling of nonlinearity. The review reveals that there is no single strategy that can address all aspects related to process monitoring and fault detection efficiently and there is a need to mesh the different techniques from various PMFD strategies to devise a more efficient PMFD strategy.

Research limitations/implications

The review documents the existing strategies for PMFD with an emphasis on finding out the nature of the strategies, data requirements, model building steps, applicability and scope for amalgamation. The review helps future researchers and practitioners to choose appropriate techniques for PMFD studies for a given situation. Further, future researchers will get a comprehensive but precise report on PMFD strategies available in the literature to date.

Originality/value

The review starts with identifying key indicators of PMFD for review and taxonomy was proposed. An analysis was conducted to identify the pattern of published articles on PMFD followed by evolution of PMFD strategies. Finally, a general framework is given for PMFD strategies for future researchers and practitioners.

Details

International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, vol. 29 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0265-671X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 August 1997

Su‐Fen Yang

Proposes a renewal theory approach to derive the cost model for two dependent processes. Thus, constructs the economic individual X chart and cause‐selecting chart to monitor the…

666

Abstract

Proposes a renewal theory approach to derive the cost model for two dependent processes. Thus, constructs the economic individual X chart and cause‐selecting chart to monitor the two processes. They may be used to maintain the process with minimum cost and effectively distinguish which component of the processes is out of control. The optimal design parameters of these control charts can be determined by minimizing the cost model using a simple grid search method. Gives an example to illustrate the design procedure and application of the economic individual X chart and cause‐selecting chart.

Details

International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, vol. 14 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0265-671X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 July 2019

Yinhua Liu, Rui Sun and Sun Jin

Driven by the development in sensing techniques and information and communications technology, and their applications in the manufacturing system, data-driven quality control

Abstract

Purpose

Driven by the development in sensing techniques and information and communications technology, and their applications in the manufacturing system, data-driven quality control methods play an essential role in the quality improvement of assembly products. This paper aims to review the development of data-driven modeling methods for process monitoring and fault diagnosis in multi-station assembly systems. Furthermore, the authors discuss the applications of the methods proposed and present suggestions for future studies in data mining for quality control in product assembly.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper provides an outline of data-driven process monitoring and fault diagnosis methods for reduction in variation. The development of statistical process monitoring techniques and diagnosis methods, such as pattern matching, estimation-based analysis and artificial intelligence-based diagnostics, is introduced.

Findings

A classification structure for data-driven process control techniques and the limitations of their applications in multi-station assembly processes are discussed. From the perspective of the engineering requirements of real, dynamic, nonlinear and uncertain assembly systems, future trends in sensing system location, data mining and data fusion techniques for variation reduction are suggested.

Originality/value

This paper reveals the development of process monitoring and fault diagnosis techniques, and their applications in variation reduction in multi-station assembly.

Details

Assembly Automation, vol. 39 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-5154

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 June 2006

Ramesh Marasini and Nashwan Dawood

The monitoring and control of business processes and their variables have strategic importance in order to respond to the dynamics of the world of business. Many monitoring…

585

Abstract

The monitoring and control of business processes and their variables have strategic importance in order to respond to the dynamics of the world of business. Many monitoring processes are focussed on controlling time and cost and the overall performance is evaluated through a standard set of key performance indicators. These passive approaches do not consider a holistic/system view and therefore ignore the interrelationships between various external and internal variables impacting a business process. This paper investigates an application of multivariate statistical process control techniques [mainly principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares (PLS)] which have been successfully used in process and chemical industries, to model, monitor, control and predict business process variables. A prototype, innovative managerial control system (IMCS), was developed to investigate the application of PCA and PLS techniques to monitor, control and predict business process performance. Data was collected and analysed using a case study in a precast concrete building products company. This study has proved that the PCA approach can be effectively used to control business processes. Also, the PLS approach is found to provide better forecasts as compared to commonly used decomposition method. The benefits and limitations of using multivariate statistical process control techniques as applied to business process control are highlighted.

Details

Construction Innovation, vol. 6 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1471-4175

Keywords

1 – 10 of 498