Control Charts

 The control chart is a statistical quality control tool

used in the monitoring variation in the characteristics
of a product or service.
 The control chart focuses on the time dimension and
the nature of the variability in the system.
 The control chart may be used to study past
performance and/or to evaluate present conditions.
 A control chart always has a central line for the average, an upper
line for the upper control limit and a lower line for the lower control
limit.
 Lines are determined from historical data. By comparing current data
to these lines, you can draw conclusions about whether the process
variation is consistent (in control),affected by common causes of
variation or is unpredictable (out of control i.e. affected by special
causes of variation).
 Data collected from a control chart may form the basis for process
improvement.
IMPORTANCE OF CONTROL
CHARTS
i. To control ongoing processes by finding and
correcting problems as they occur.
ii. To predict the expected range of outcomes from a
process.
iii. To determine whether a process is stable (in
statistical control).
iv. To analyze patterns of process variation from
special causes or common causes (built into the
process).
v. To determine whether the quality improvement
project should aim to prevent specific problems or
to make fundamental changes to the process.
Control Charts
 Basic components of control
charts
 A centerline, usually the
mathematical average of all the
samples plotted;
 Lower and upper control limits
defining the constraints of
common cause variations;
 Performance data plotted over
time.
 General model for a control chart
 UCL = μ + kσ
 CL = μ
 LCL = μ – kσ

where μ is the mean of the variable, and σ is the

standard deviation
of the variable. UCL=upper control limit; LCL = lower
control limit;
CL = center line. where k is the distance of the control
limits from the
center line, expressed in terms of standard deviation
units. When k
is set to 3, we speak of 3-sigma control charts.
Historically, k = 3 has
become an accepted standard in industry.
Types of the control charts
 Variables control charts
 Variable data are measured on a continuous scale. For
example: time, weight, distance or temperature can be
measured in fractions or decimals.
 Applied to data with continuous distribution

 Attributes control charts

 Attribute data are counted and cannot have fractions or
decimals. Attribute data arise when you are
determining only the presence or absence of
something: success or failure, accept or reject, correct
or not correct. For example, a report can have four
errors or five errors, but it cannot have four and a half
errors.
 Applied to data following discrete distribution
 Variables control charts Examples
 X-bar and R chart (also called averages
and range chart)
 Attributes control charts-examples
 p chart (proportion chart)
 c chart (count chart)
 UCL = Process Average +3Standard Deviations
 LCL = Process Average - 3 Standard Deviations
 X UCL
+3

Process
-3 average

LCL
TIME
 Control Charts-
Assignable
Sample
cause variation

UCL
M EAN

LCL

Random
variation
 In the example below ,the data below is used in the
variable control charts for a X bar and R Charts in the given
samples of a population
 From Gillette Company samples of razor blade of the
thickness as indicated in the table below, for 15 hours
(subgroups), in which each hour five samples are selected
from a population in each subgroup.
 Table of Data from Gillette

Example
5 measurements for each subgroup
Calculations for the Data

 Find the mean (X) and the range for each subgroup
 X = ( Σ xi ) / n
 R = Max (xi) – Min (xi)
 Find the mean of the X and Range
 X = ( Σ X i ) / (#of sub groups )
 R = ( Σ Ri ) / (# of sub groups )
CONTROL CHARTS
Limits to our Control charts

 Upper and lower control limits represent 3 standard

deviations above and 3 standard deviations below
the mean line respectfully.
 Instead of calculating the standard deviation for all of
the sample data we use these simple equations
 ∑ 𝑋−𝑢 2
𝑉𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 , 𝛿 2 =
𝑁

Standard deviation ,𝛿 =
∑ 𝑋−𝑢 2
√
𝑁
Finished Control Charts
 To analyze the control charts it is important to remember
that the data is represented over six standard deviations,
there are three standard deviations from the mean line to
the upper control limit and three from the mean to the lower
control limit. To help analyze the charts, it is important to
divide the chart area into six sections A, B, and C
representing the standard deviations
 To interpret the data we first look at the R chart. The R chart
represents the variety in the data and if the variety is to
great than there is no need to look at the X control chart.
 The chart is out of control if one or a combination of the
following four examples occur:
Process out of Control

 If one point falls outside of the 3 sigma control limits

(beyond zone A)
If two out of any three successive points
fall in zone A of the same side
 If four out of any five successive points fall in or beyond zone
B of the same side
 If eight successive points fall in or beyond zone C of the
same side
C- chart

 The c chart will help evaluate process stability when

there can be more than one defect per unit. This chart is
especially useful when you want to know how many
defects there are .
 The c chart is useful when it's easy to count the number
of defects and the sample size is always the same.
 -Count the number of defects in each subgroup and
obtian the average defects.
C chart measures the number of defects per item or
group of item and changes with time.
C charts and other charts can be created by software
products e.g SQC pack.
 A LCD manufacturer wants to monitor defects on a 17”
LCD screens.Techinicians record the number of dead pixels
for each subgroup of 10 screens per hour.They use the C
chart to monitor the no of dead pixels.
 If LCL is –ve,there is no lower control limit.
Subgroup No of defects Subgroup No of defects
1 14 14 16
2 16 15 15
3 28 16 13
4 16 17 14
5 12 18 16
6 20 19 11
7 10 20 20
8 12 21 11
9 10 22 19
10 17 23 16
11 19 24 31
12 17 25 13
 𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑛𝑜 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑒𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑠 400
 = 𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑛𝑜 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑠 = = 16
25

 UCL= +3√ =16 + 3 16 = 28

 UCL= −3√ =16 − 3 16 = 4
UCL

LCL
P-Chart

 To evaluate process stability when counting the

fraction defective.
 It is used when the sample size varies.
Table 1 shows the results of final testing of integrated circuits (ICs) in a company for a 12 week period.
Week Number of ICs tested Number of defectives
1 1045 32
2 1048 40
3 1036 45
4 1052 50
5 1059 51
6 1077 56
7 1098 59
8 1086 46
9 1055 40
10 1040 36
11 1052 42
12 1060 43
For the fraction defectives,
I. Determine the control limits.
II. Draw the control chart. (13 marks)
Example: An automated process whose
intent is to fill a bag with 200 pounds of
cement. Example: During each of N=10
consecutive hours, remove n=4 bags of
cements from the filling process and weigh
them. OBSERVATIONS
SAMPLE 1 199.98 200.37 200.94 200.80
SAMPLE 2 200.42 201.04 199.91 199.80
SAMPLE 3 199.59 200.08 199.04 198.47
SAMPLE 4 200.44 201.34 199.39 200.09
SAMPLE 5 199.80 199.37 200.41 196.63
SAMPLE 6 199.68 198.52 201.73 198.99
SAMPLE 7 199.83 201.68 198.53 200.33
SAMPLE 8 197.65 199.67 200.04 199.52
SAMPLE 9 199.11 200.75 200.86 199.76
SAMPLE 10 199.65 198.98 201.33 199.65
 Assignment
 Draw the X and R control charts.
 In conclusion:
 The control chart is a means of monitoring variation in
the characteristics of a product or service.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS