Statistical Quality Control

Quality control is a procedure or a set of procedures performed to ensure the quality criterion
of a product or service. Statistical quality control (S.Q.C.) is the use of statistical methods in
the monitoring and maintaining the quality of products and services, which determines its
fitness to use. S.Q.C. is one of the most important application of statistics in industry, based
on the theory of probability and sampling.Quality control, covers all the factors and
processes of production which may be broadly classified as follows:
1. Quality of materials: Material of good quality will result in smooth processing thereby
reducing the waste and increasing the output. It will also give better finish to the end products.
2. Quality of manpower: Trained and qualified personnel will give increased efficiency due
to the better quality production through the application of skill and also reduce production
cost and waste.
3. Quality of machines: Better quality equipment will result in efficient work due to lack or
scarcity of breakdowns and thus reduce the cost of defectives.
4. Quality of management: A good management is imperative for increase in efficiency,
harmony in relations, and growth of business and markets.
Basis of S.Q.C. The basis of statistical quality control is the degree of ‘variability’ in the size
or the magnitude of a given characteristic of the product. Variation in the quality of
manufactured product in the repetitive process in industry is inherent and inevitable. These
variations are broadly classified as being due to two causes, viz.,
i) Chance causes, and ii) Assignable causes.
1. Chance Causes: Some “stable pattern of variation” or “a constant cause system” is
inherent in any particular scheme of production and inspection. The variation due to these
causes is beyond the control of human hand and cannot be prevented or eliminated under any
circumstances. One has got to allow for variation within this stable pattern, usually termed as
allowable variation. The range of such variation is known as ’natural tolerance of the
process’.
2. Assignable Causes: The second type of variation attributed to any production process is
due to non-random or the so-called assignable causes and is termed as preventable variation.
The assignable causes may creep in at any stage of the process, right from the arrival of the
raw materials to the final delivery of goods.
Benefits of Statistical Quality Control
1. It provides a means of detecting error at inspection.
2. It leads to more uniform quality of production.
3. It improves the relationship with the customer.
4. It reduces inspection costs.
5. It reduces the number of rejects and saves the cost of material.
6. It provides a basis for attainable specifications.
7. It points out the bottlenecks and trouble spots.
8. It provides a means of determining the capability of the manufacturing process.
9. It promotes the understanding and appreciation of quality control

Process Control And Product Control Process Control:

The main objective in any production process is to control and maintain a satisfactory quality
level of the manufactured product so that it conforms to specified quality standards. In other
words, we want to ensure that the proportion of defective items in the manufactured product
is not too large.Product Control: By product control we mean controlling the quality of the
product by critical examination at strategic points and this is achieved through ‘Sampling
Inspection Plans’ pioneered by H.F. Dodge and H.C. Romig.
Product control aims at guaranteeing a certain quality level to the consumer regardless of
what quality level is being maintained by the producer. In other words, it attempts to ensure
that the product marketed by a department does not contain a large number of defective
(unsatisfactory) items. Thus, product control is concerned with classification of raw materials,
semi-finished goods or finished goods into acceptable or rejectable items.

Control Limits, Specification Limits, Tolerance Limits

1. Control Limits: These are limits of sampling variation of a statistical measure (e.g. mean,
range, or fraction defective) such that if the production process is under control, the values of
the measure calculated from different rational sub-groups will lie within these limits. Points
falling outside control limits indicate that the process is not operating under system of
chance causes, i.e., assignable causes of variation are present, which must be eliminated.2. 2.
Specification limits: When an article is proposed to be manufactured, the manufacturers
have to decide upon the maximum and the minimum allowable dimensions of some quality
characteristics so that the product can be gainfully utilised for which it is intended. If the
dimensions are beyond these limits, the product is treated as defective and cannot be used.
These maximum and minimum limits of variation of individual items, as mentioned in the
product design, are known as ‘specification limits’.
2. Tolerance limits: Variation due to chance causes is inherent in the outputs under any
scheme of production.these are limits of variation of a quality measure of the Product
between which at least a specified proportion of the product is expected to lie (with a given
probability), provided the process is in a state of statistical quality control. Almost all the
variations due to chance causes lie within limits and those limits are called natural
tolerance limits. The width is called the natural tolerance.

Acceptance Sampling :
A buyer draws a sample of a few units from a lot that is to be accepted by him if the number
of defectives is less otherwise the lot is to be rejected. This technique of sampling inspection
and decision making is called acceptance sampling.

Variables and Attributes: The characteristics of a product which are measurable and
can be expressed in their respective units of measurement are called variables. For example,
length, temperature, time etc. The characteristics of a product which are not measurable but
can be identified by their presence or absence are called attributes. This applies to things that
can be judged by visual examination. For example, spots in enamel painting, crack on a glass
tumbler etc.

Control Charts: Control charts are used to identify whether a manufacturing process is
under statistical control, that is, it governed by chances causes alone. If there is an influence
of assignable cause, necessary actions should be taken to bring the process under
control.Control charts consists of 3 horizontal lines besides the usual x and y axes, which are
the central line and two control limits on either side of central line.
1. Central Line: Central line (C.L.) denotes the average value of the characteristics, which
is drawn at the mean of the observations.
2. Upper Control Limit: Upper control limit (U.C.L.) is at distance above the central
line.
3. Lower Control Limit: Lower control limit (L.C.L.) is at distance below the central line.
If the distance below the central line is below the x - axis, then the Lower control limit is
the x - axis.

Types of Control Charts .There are two types of control charts:

1. Control charts for variables
2. Control charts for attributes.
Control chart for variables: As we have defined earlier,variables are the quality
characteristics of manufactured products which are measurable in their respective units of
measurements.These types of variables are continuous in nature and hey follow the Normal
distribution. For this purpose we use two Charts:

1. the chart for mean ( ) and range R

2. the chart for mean ( ) and standard deviation ( )

Control chart for Attributes: To control the quality of products which are governed by the
attributes we use, the p -chart for proportion of defectives, the np - chart for number of
defectives and the c - chart for number of defects per item or the unit.Control Charts for
Variables. These charts may be applied to any quality characteristic that is measurable. In
order to control a measurable characteristic we have to exercise control on the measure of
location as well as the measure of dispersion. Usually and R charts are employed to
control the mean and dispersion respectively of the characteristic.

.
No production process is perfect enough to produce all the items exactly alike. Some amount
of variation, in the produced items,is inherent in any production scheme. This variation is the
totality of numerous characteristics of the production process viz.,raw material, machine
setting and handling, operators, etc. As pointed out earlier, this variation is the result of (i)
chance causes, and (ii) assignable causes. The control limits in the chart are so placed that
they reveal the presence absence of assignable causes of variation in the average - mostly
related to machine setting.
Control Charts for Attributes
There are two control charts for attributes