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Article
Publication date: 1 April 1997

Donald W. Marquardt

“Twin metric” control preserves the simple, intuitive graphical features of Shewhart control charts, while incorporating the much improved performance of CUSUM. Two metrics are…

393

Abstract

“Twin metric” control preserves the simple, intuitive graphical features of Shewhart control charts, while incorporating the much improved performance of CUSUM. Two metrics are plotted on the twin metric control chart at each sample interval; the Shewhart value and a simplified CUSUM value. The action limits for the two metrics are numerically identical. The name twin metric emphasizes this identity. Twin metric responsiveness, measured in terms of the average run length (ARL) curve, is several times better than Shewhart control, with or without runs rules to supplement the Shewhart chart. Twin metric enables substantially better response to real process shifts and substantially fewer false alarms compared to Shewhart charts. Discusses the conceptual framework, the arithmetic formulas, and the operational aspects, including estimation of the process standard deviation, estimation of the current process average after a twin metric signal, and monitoring process variability using twin metric control. Provides a table of ARLs for six twin metric options. Gives quantitative performance comparisons comparing twin metric to Shewhart and to combined Shewhart‐CUSUM.

Details

International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, vol. 14 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0265-671X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 22 May 2009

Moustafa Omar Ahmed Abu‐Shawiesh

This paper seeks to propose a univariate robust control chart for location and the necessary table of factors for computing the control limits and the central line as an…

1759

Abstract

Purpose

This paper seeks to propose a univariate robust control chart for location and the necessary table of factors for computing the control limits and the central line as an alternative to the Shewhart control chart.

Design/methodology/approach

The proposed method is based on two robust estimators, namely, the sample median, MD, to estimate the process mean, μ, and the median absolute deviation from the sample median, MAD, to estimate the process standard deviation, σ. A numerical example was given and a simulation study was conducted in order to illustrate the performance of the proposed method and compare it with that of the traditional Shewhart control chart.

Findings

The proposed robust MDMAD control chart gives better performance than the traditional Shewhart control chart if the underlying distribution of chance causes is non‐normal. It has good properties for heavy‐tailed distribution functions and moderate sample sizes and it compares favorably with the traditional Shewhart control chart.

Originality/value

The most common statistical process control (SPC) tool is the traditional Shewhart control chart. The chart is used to monitor the process mean based on the assumption that the underlying distribution of the quality characteristic is normal and there is no major contamination due to outliers. The sample mean, , and the sample standard deviation, S, are the most efficient location and scale estimators for the normal distribution often used to construct the control chart, but the sample mean, , and the sample standard deviation, S, might not be the best choices when one or both assumptions are not met. Therefore, the need for alternatives to the control chart comes into play. The literature shows that the sample median, MD, and the median absolute deviation from the sample median, MAD, are indeed more resistant to departures from normality and the presence of outliers.

Details

International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, vol. 26 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0265-671X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 March 2011

D.R. Prajapati

The concept of the proposed R chart is based on the sum of chi squares (χ2). The average run lengths (ARLs) of the proposed R chart are computed and compared with the ARLs of a…

Abstract

Purpose

The concept of the proposed R chart is based on the sum of chi squares (χ2). The average run lengths (ARLs) of the proposed R chart are computed and compared with the ARLs of a standard R chart, Shewhart variance chart proposed by Chang and Gan, a CUSUM range chart (with and without FIR feature) proposed by Chang and Gan and also with an EWMA range chart proposed by Crowder and Hamilton for various chart parameters. This paper aims to show that only FIR CUSUM schemes perform better than the proposed R chart but other CUSUM and EWMA schemes are less efficient than the proposed R chart.

Design/methodology/approach

The concept of the proposed R chart is based on the sum of chi squares (χ2). The proposed R chart divides the plot area into three regions, namely: outright rejection region; outright acceptance region; and transition region. The NULL hypothesis is rejected if a point falls beyond the control limit, and accepted if it falls below the warning limit. However, when a point falls beyond the warning limit, but not beyond the control limit, the decision is taken on the basis of individual observations of the previous H samples, which are considered to evaluate statistic U, that is the sum of chi squares. The NULL hypothesis is rejected if U exceeds a predefined value (U*) and accepted otherwise.

Findings

The comparisons also show that the CUSUM, EWMA and proposed R charts outperform the Shewhart R chart by a substantial amount. It is concluded that only FIR CUSUM schemes perform better than the proposed R chart, as it is second in ranking. The other CUSUM and EWMA schemes are less efficient than the proposed R chart.

Research limitations/implications

CUSUM and EWMA charts can catch a small shift in the process average but they are not efficient to catch a large shift. Many researchers have also pointed out that these charts' applicability is limited to the chemical industries. Another limitation of CUSUM and EWMA charts is that they can catch the shift only when there is a single and sustained shift in the process average. If the shift is not sustained, then they will not be effective.

Practical implications

Many difficulties related to the operation and design of CUSUM and EWMA control charts are greatly reduced by providing a simple and accurate proposed scheme. The performance characteristics (ARLs) of the proposed charts described in this paper are very much comparable with FIR CUSUM, CUSUM, EWMA and other charts. It can be concluded that, instead of considering many chart parameters used in CUSUM and EWMA charts, it is better to consider a simple and more effective scheme, because a control chart loses its simplicity with multiple parameters. Moreover, practitioners may also experience difficulty in using these charts in production processes.

Originality/value

It is a modification of the Shewhart Range Chart but it is more effective than the Shewhart Range chart, as shown in the research paper.

Details

International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, vol. 28 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…

5227

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: 23 May 2008

D.R. Prajapati and P.B. Mahapatra

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a new design of the chart to catch smaller shifts in the process average as well as to maintain the simplicity like the Shewhart

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a new design of the chart to catch smaller shifts in the process average as well as to maintain the simplicity like the Shewhart chart so that it may be applied at shopfloor level.

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper, a new chart with two strategies is proposed which can overcome the limitations of Shewhart, CUSUM and EWMA charts. The Shewhart chart uses only two control limits to arrive at a decision to accept the Null Hypothesis (H0) or Alternative Hypothesis (H1), but in the new chart, two more limits at “K” times sample standard deviation on both sides from center line have been introduced. These limits are termed warning limits. The first strategy is based on chi‐square distribution (CSQ), while the second strategy is based on the average of sample means (ASM).

Findings

The proposed chart with “strategy ASM” shows lower average run length (ARL) values than ARLs of variable parameter (VP) chart for most of the cases. The VP chart shows little better performance than the new chart; but at large sample sizes (n) of 12 and 16. The VSS chart also shows lower ARLs but at very large sample size, which should not be used because, as far as possible, samples should be taken from a lot produced under identical conditions. The inherent feature of the new chart is its simplicity, so that it can be used without difficulty at shopfloor level as it uses only a fixed sample size and fixed sampling interval but it is very difficult to set the various chart parameters in VP and VSS charts.

Research limitations/implications

A lot of effort has been expended to develop the new strategies for monitoring the process mean. Various assumptions and factors affecting the performance of the chart have been identified and taken into account. In the proposed design, the observations have been assumed independent of one another but the observations may also be assumed to be auto‐correlated with previous observations and performance of the proposed chart may be studied.

Originality/value

The research findings could be applied to various manufacturing and service industries as it is more effective than the Shewhart chart and simpler than the VP, VSS and CUSUM charts.

Details

International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, vol. 25 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0265-671X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 March 2011

Philippe Castagliola, Giovanni Celano, Antonio Costa and Sergio Fichera

The use of control charts to monitor a product quality characteristic requires the selection of their design parameters. To select feasible design parameters, the constraints…

Abstract

Purpose

The use of control charts to monitor a product quality characteristic requires the selection of their design parameters. To select feasible design parameters, the constraints related to the inspection resources available at the workstation, its configuration and the process operating parameters should be taken into account. The aim of this research is to discuss the design of Shewhart and EWMA control charts monitoring dispersion in the presence of these constraints and for processes characterized by a random shift size.

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper the design of the investigated control charts has been intended in a broader sense as the design of a local inspection procedure constrained by a set of resource/environmental process factors characterizing the workstation configuration. An economic objective pursuing the minimization of the total inspection cost has been considered.

Findings

Constraining the design of a control chart is an essential issue to find chart design parameters that can be effectively implemented by quality practitioners. The influence of the process‐operating parameters has been modelled and some guidelines have been suggested through the use of contour plots.

Originality/value

The economic design of control charts has been scarcely implemented by quality practitioners due to the difficulty of adapting them to the multifaceted complexity and constraints present within manufacturing environments. This paper tries to contribute to the existing literature by improving the available mathematical models through modelling the actual workstation configuration and resource allocation; furthermore, for random shift processes it investigates the performance of the Shewhart and EWMA control charts monitoring process dispersion.

Details

International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, vol. 28 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0265-671X

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 4 November 2020

Mahmoud Alsaid, Rania M. Kamal and Mahmoud M. Rashwan

This paper presents economic and economic–statistical designs of the adaptive exponentially weighted moving average (AEWMA) control chart for monitoring the process mean. It also…

1155

Abstract

Purpose

This paper presents economic and economic–statistical designs of the adaptive exponentially weighted moving average (AEWMA) control chart for monitoring the process mean. It also aims to compare the effect of estimated process parameters on the economic performance of three charts, which are Shewhart, exponentially weighted moving average and AEWMA control charts with economic–statistical design.

Design/methodology/approach

The optimal parameters of the control charts are obtained by applying the Lorenzen and Vance’s (1986) cost function. Comparisons between the economic–statistical and economic designs of the AEWMA control chart in terms of expected cost and statistical measures are performed. Also, comparisons are made between the economic performance of the three competing charts in terms of the average expected cost and standard deviation of expected cost.

Findings

This paper concludes that taking into account the economic factors and statistical properties in designing the AEWMA control chart leads to a slight increase in cost but in return the improvement in the statistical performance is substantial. In addition, under the estimated parameters case, the comparisons reveal that from the economic point of view the AEWMA chart is the most efficient chart when detecting shifts of different sizes.

Originality/value

The importance of the study stems from designing the AEWMA chart from both economic and statistical points of view because it has not been tackled before. In addition, this paper contributes to the literature by studying the effect of the estimated parameters on the performance of control charts with economic–statistical design.

Details

Review of Economics and Political Science, vol. 6 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2356-9980

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 17 August 2021

Abeer A. Zaki, Nesma A. Saleh and Mahmoud A. Mahmoud

This study aims to assess the effect of updating the Phase I data – to enhance the parameters' estimates – on the control charts' detection power designed to monitor social…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to assess the effect of updating the Phase I data – to enhance the parameters' estimates – on the control charts' detection power designed to monitor social networks.

Design/methodology/approach

A dynamic version of the degree corrected stochastic block model (DCSBM) is used to model the network. Both the Shewhart and exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) control charts are used to monitor the model parameters. A performance comparison is conducted for each chart when designed using both fixed and moving windows of networks.

Findings

Our results show that continuously updating the parameters' estimates during the monitoring phase delays the Shewhart chart's detection of networks' anomalies; as compared to the fixed window approach. While the EWMA chart performance is either indifferent or worse, based on the updating technique, as compared to the fixed window approach. Generally, the EWMA chart performs uniformly better than the Shewhart chart for all shift sizes. We recommend the use of the EWMA chart when monitoring networks modeled with the DCSBM, with sufficiently small to moderate fixed window size to estimate the unknown model parameters.

Originality/value

This study shows that the excessive recommendations in literature regarding the continuous updating of Phase I data during the monitoring phase to enhance the control chart performance cannot generally be extended to social network monitoring; especially when using the DCSBM. That is to say, the effect of continuously updating the parameters' estimates highly depends on the nature of the process being monitored.

Details

Review of Economics and Political Science, vol. 6 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2356-9980

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 August 2008

Wenbin Wang and Wenjuan Zhang

The purpose of this paper is to develop a statistical control chart based model for earlier defect identification.

2029

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop a statistical control chart based model for earlier defect identification.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper used statistical process control methods and an auto‐regression model to model the identification of the initiation point of a random defect. Conventional statistical process control (SPC) methods have been widely used in process industries for process abnormality detections. However, their practicability and achievable performance are limited due to the assumptions that a continuous process is operated in a particular steady state and that all variables are normally distributed. Because the case considered here does not meet the requirement of conventional SPC methods, we proposed adaptive statistical process control charts based on an autoregressive model to distinguish defects from normal changes in operating conditions. The method proposed has been tested on a set of vibration data of rolling element ball bearings

Findings

Several control charts have been used and compared in this paper to identify the initial point of a defect. Overall, the adaptive Shewhart average level chart is a good choice since it overcomes the drawback of adaptive moving charts by working out the limits using all the bearings' data, with no such a need for a subjective threshold level. They are also not very sensitive to the small casual changes in the data.

Practical implications

The model developed can be served as part of a prognosis tool for maintenance decision making since once the earlier warning point has been identified, corrective maintenance actions may be taken. It has practical application areas in vibration based monitoring or any monitoring scheme where a trend in the monitored measurements may exist. The method proposed is easy to use and can be implemented in any condition based maintenance software packages.

Originality/value

The approach proposed in this paper is a new application of existing methods and of original contribution from a point of view of applicability. It adds value to the existing literature and is of value to practitioners.

Details

Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering, vol. 14 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-2511

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 February 2019

Pedro Carlos Oprime, Fabiane Leticia Lizarelli, Marcio Lopes Pimenta and Jorge Alberto Achcar

The traditional Shewhart control chart, the X-bar and R/S chart, cannot give support to decide when it is not economically feasible to stop the process in order to remove special…

Abstract

Purpose

The traditional Shewhart control chart, the X-bar and R/S chart, cannot give support to decide when it is not economically feasible to stop the process in order to remove special causes. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to propose a new control chart design – a modified acceptance control chart, which provides a supportive method for decision making in economic terms, especially when the process has high capability indices.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors made a modeling expectation average run length (ARL), which incorporates the probability density function of the sampling distribution of Cpk, to compare and analyze the efficiency of the proposed design.

Findings

This study suggested a new procedure to calculate the control limits (CL) of the X-bar chart, which allows economic decisions about the process to be made. By introducing a permissible average variation and defining three regions for statistical CL in the traditional X-bar control chart, a new design is proposed.

Originality/value

A framework is presented to help practitioners in the use of the proposed control chart. Two new parameters (Cp and Cpk) in addition to m and n were introduced in the expected ARL equation. The Cpk is a random variable and its probability function is known. Therefore, by using a preliminary sample of a process under control, the authors can test whether the process is capable or not.

Details

International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, vol. 36 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0265-671X

Keywords

1 – 10 of 408