Section A [60 Marks] - Solve Two of the Following Three Questions

Question One [30 Marks]

The incoming inspection department of an Automotive assembly company has decided to

inspect supplier’s lots (6000 units each) using the single sampling plan n = 50 and c = 2.

i) Construct the OC curve using 8 points. What is the use of such curve?
[8 marks]
ii) Draw the AOQ curve and find the AOQL.
[6 marks]
iii) Find the quality level of lot quality that will be rejected 40% of the time.
[4 marks]
iv) Suppose that the incoming lots are 6% nonconforming. What is the probability of
accepting lots under the above sampling plan?
[4 marks]
v) Draw the ATI curve for this plan. What is the use of such curve?
[8 marks]

[Total 30]

p P(a) AOQ = p(Pa)(N-n)/N ATI = n+[(1-Pa)*(N-n)]

0 1 0 50
0.01 0.98 0.009718333 169
0.02 0.91 0.018048333 585.5
0.03 0.82 0.024395 1121
0.05 0.58 0.028758333 2549
0.07 0.35 0.024295833 3917.5
0.1 0.15 0.014875 5107.5
0.15 0.02 0.002975 5881
0.2 0.003 0.000595 5982.15
MECH41C03 Quality Control and Technical Report Writing Final Exam – 2012-2013

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MECH41C03 Quality Control and Technical Report Writing Final Exam – 2012-2013
i)

P(a)
1.2

0.8

0.6
P(a)
0.4

0.2

0
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25

This is curve can be used to find the probability of accepting or rejecting a lot given its quality
(percent defective).

ii)

AOQ = p(Pa)(N-n)/N
0.035

0.03

0.025

0.02

0.015 AOQ = p(Pa)(N-n)/N

0.01

0.005

0
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25

From the curve, it can be seen that the AOQL = 0.0285

iii) P(rejection) = 0.4, therefore P(acceptance = 0.6), from the OC curve the percent defective
= 0.0475
iv) At p = 6% (0.06), from the nomograph, P(a) = 0.42. Same conclusion can be found from
the OC curve.

v) The ATI Plot

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MECH41C03 Quality Control and Technical Report Writing Final Exam – 2012-2013

ATI = n+[(1-Pa)*(N-n)]
7000
6000
5000
4000
ATI = n+[(1-
3000
Pa)*(N-n)]
2000
1000
0
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25

This curve can be used to find the average total number of inspected units given the quality of the
supplied lots.

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MECH41C03 Quality Control and Technical Report Writing Final Exam – 2012-2013
Question Two [30 Marks]

A. A process producing steel forgings that are used for copy machines is to be controlled using
control chart for fraction non-conforming. The quality engineer is taking daily samples from the
production and testing them. Unfortunately, he was not able to samples of equal sizes. The
results of the inspection are shown in Table (1) below.
i) Construct control chart for these data using separate control limit methodology.
[14 marks]
ii) Does the process appear to be in statistical control? Explain.
[4 marks]
iii) If the process is out of control, assume the all out of control situations are due to assignable
causes and that these causes are found and removed, Calculate revised control chart
parameter(s).
[4 marks]

[Total 22]
Table (1) Number of Non-conforming Units Data

Number of Number of
Day Units Inspected Defective Units
1 40 2
2 55 4
3 45 3
4 38 4
5 65 3
6 60 3
7 35 8
8 63 3
9 52 4
10 48 3
11 45 5
12 38 3
13 65 4
14 40 3
15 55 3

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MECH41C03 Quality Control and Technical Report Writing Final Exam – 2012-2013

Pbar = 55/744 = 0.0739

1-Pbar = 0.9261

ii) Since point (7) falls outisde the control limits, the process is said to be
out of control.
iii) Revised P-bar = 55-8/709 = 0.06629

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MECH41C03 Quality Control and Technical Report Writing Final Exam – 2012-2013

B. The outisde diameter of a toy is a critical to quality charactterstic. Data are collected to
check for normality of production. 10 units are measured as follows:
17,12,11,13,15,16,15,16,16, and 17. Is this data normal? Explain.
[8 marks]

i x A Z(A) E(x)
1 11 0.060976 -1.54664 -3.24425
2 12 0.158537 -1.00049 -2.09865
3 13 0.256098 -0.65542 -1.37483
4 15 0.353659 -0.37546 -0.78758
5 15 0.45122 -0.12258 -0.25713
6 16 0.54878 0.122581 0.257128
7 16 0.646341 0.375462 0.787575
8 16 0.743902 0.655424 1.374828
9 17 0.841463 1.000491 2.098647
10 17 0.939024 1.546635 3.24425

S= 2.097618

E(x)
4
3
2
1
E(x)
0
Linear (E(x))
-1 0 5 10 15 20
-2
-3
-4

The data is normal as it approximately follow the straight line.

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MECH41C03 Quality Control and Technical Report Writing Final Exam – 2012-2013
Question Three [30 Marks]

A. A process is to be monitored with standard values µ=10 and σ=2.5, the sample size is n=4.
Calculate the following
i) The center line and control limits for the X-bar chart.

[6 marks]
ii) The center line and control limits for the R chart.

[6 marks]
iii) The center line and control limits for the S chart.

[6 marks]
iv) Which group of charts should be used? Why?

[4 marks]
= 2.5, and µ = 10, n =4
Constants
At n=4
A = 1.5
d2= 2.059
D4 = 2.282
D3 = 0
D1 = 0
D2 = 4.698
C4 = 0.9213
B5 = 0
B6 = 2.088

X-bar Chart

R-Chart
CL = Rbar = d2*  = 2.059 * 2.5 = 5.15
UCL = D4 * Rbar = 2.282*5.15 = 11.75
LCL = D3 * Rbar = 0
Or UCL = D2 * = 4.698 * 2.5 = 11.75 LCL = D1 *  = 0

S-Chart
S-bar = = C4*  = 0.9213 * 2.5 = 2.303
UCL= B6* = 2.088*2.5 = 5.22
LCL = B5 *  = 0
X-bar & R should be used instead of X-bar & S as they are easier and not time consuming and
the range is considered good estimation of variability especially when n is less than 10 units.

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MECH41C03 Quality Control and Technical Report Writing Final Exam – 2012-2013

B. A production company is utilising np-chart to control the process. If 30 units are to be

checked/inspected every 3 hours, and the fraction non-conforming is known to be equal 0.05.
Determine the central line and control limits for the control charts.

[8 marks]

CL = np = 0.05 * 30 = 1.5
UCL = 1.5 + 3*(1.5)*(0.95) = 5.08
LCL = 1.5 – 3*(1.5)*(0.95) = -2.08

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MECH41C03 Quality Control and Technical Report Writing Final Exam – 2012-2013

Section B [40 Marks] - Solve the Following Question

Question Four [40 Marks]

i) Give two definitions of the word “quality”? Are these definitions

different? Explain. Who stated each definition?
 Quality is conformance to requirements or specifications (Crosby
1979)
 Fitness for use (Juran 1988).
Although these definitions appear to be different, someone must say that [5 marks]
if a product conforms to specifications or requirements, it will probably
be fit for the intended use set by the designer. So these two definitions are
not really different.
ii) Explain the term “Quality circles”. When did this technique start to be
used in industry?
Is a technique for quality improvement that started in 1960, where a
group of employees work together to identify, analyse, and find solution [5 marks]
to quality related problems.
iii) Explain Four of the basic ways of implementing TQM at the BUE.
1. A committed and involved management to provide long-term top-to- [5 marks]
bottom organizational support: Without top management
involvement, none of the employees will be eager to help in
improvement projects
2. An unwavering focus on the customer: we should give our customer
the best focus. They are the most important factor in the success of
the organization
3. Effective involvement and utilization of the entire work force
4. Continuous improvement of the business and production processes
5. Treating suppliers as partners: Supplier quality affects to a high
extent the quality of our products, therefore in order to get higher
quality, we have to build and improve our supplier quality.
6. Establishing performance measures for the processes: What we
cannot measure we can’t control. what we can’t control we can’t
improve. Therefore, in order to improve, control, and establish
performance measure.
iv) Although Pareto 80/20 rule started in the economics field, it gains a lot of
popularity in other areas. Explain giving examples three areas where the
use of the Pareto 80/20 rule is appreciated. Should we use it before or
after Ishikawa diagram? Explain.
 80% of process defects arise from 20% of the process issues. [5 marks]
 20% of your sales force produces 80% of your company revenues.
 80% of delays in schedule arise from 20% of the possible causes of
the delays.
 80% of customer complaints arise from 20% of your products or
services.
v) What is benchmarking? Where is it originated? How is it beneficial to
improved quality? Give two examples from real life
Benchmarking is a new way of doing business that was developed by [5 marks]
Xerox in 1979. The idea is to find another company that is doing a
particular process better than your company, and then, using that
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MECH41C03 Quality Control and Technical Report Writing Final Exam – 2012-2013
information to improve the process. Seeing what other people are doing
better than you help you easily pin point areas of improvement and
tackle problems.
vi) Draw a diagram that explains the different sources of variation in
production processes. Give two example of each source
[5 marks]

Materials: Tensile strength

Operators: Personal Problem
Methods: Bad design method
Tools:
Machines: Tool Wear
Environment: Temperature
Measurement Instrument: Vibration
vii) A process could have variation, but still declared as being in statistical
control. Explain showing why we are using 3 control limits to control
process.
In any process, variation may be due to chance causes (random causes) [5 marks]
or assignable causes. When only chance causes of variation are present,
then the process is said to be in a state of statistical control. The process
is stable and predictable.
viii) If the process is out of control, does that mean that all the products are
produced outside specification limits? Explain.
If the process is out of control, we can’t say anything about it because it is [5 marks]
unpredictable (we can not estimate µ, , or percent defective)

Note: Microsoft Excel is used in solving some of the above

problems.

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