The AMS technical services department has embarked on a quality improvement effort.

Its first project

relates to maintaining the target upload speed for its Internet service subscribers. Upload speeds are
measured on a standard scale in which the target value is 1.0. Data collected over the past year indicate
that the upload speed is approximately normally distributed, with a mean of 1.005 and a standard
deviation of 0.10. Each day, one upload speed is measured. The upload speed is considered acceptable if
the measurement on the standard scale is between 0.95 and 1.05.

EXERCISES
1. Assuming that the distribution has not changed from what it was in the past year, what is the probability that
the upload speed is
a. less than 1.0?
z=(x-µ)/ σ
x=1.0
µ=1.005
σ=0.10
z= (1.0-1.005)/0.10
z= -0.05
z= .4801
Probability = .4801 * 100
Probability = 48.01%
b. between 0.95 and 1.0?
z=(x-µ)/ σ
x=0.95
µ=1.005
σ=0.10
z= (0.95-1.005)/0.10
z= -0.55
z= .2912
z=(x-µ)/ σ
x=1.0
µ=1.005
σ=0.10
z= (1.0-1.005)/0.10
z= -0.05
z= .4801
Probability = (.4801 - .2912) *100
Probability = 18.89%
c. between 1.0 and 1.05?
z=(x-µ)/ σ
x=1.0
µ=1.005
σ=0.10
z= (1.0-1.005)/0.10
z= -0.05
z= .4801
z=(x-µ)/ σ
x=1.05
µ=1.005
σ=0.10
z= (1.05-1.005)/0.10
z= 0.45
z= .6736
Probability = (.6736 - .4801) *100
Probability = 19.35%
d. less than 0.95 or greater than 1.05?
z=(x-µ)/ σ
x=0.95
µ=1.005
σ=0.10
z= (0.95-1.005)/0.10
z= -0.55
z= .2912
Probability of less than 0.95 = .2912 * 100
Probability of less than 0.95 = 29.12%
z=(x-µ)/ σ
x=1.05
µ=1.005
σ=0.10
z= (1.05-1.005)/0.10
z= 0.45
z= .6736
Probability of greater than 1.05= (1.0 - .6736) *100
Probability of greater than 1.05= 32.64%
Probability of less than 0.95 or greater than 1.05= 29.12% + 32.64% = 61.76%

2. The objective of the operations team is to reduce the probability that the upload speed is below 1.0. Should
the team focus on process improvement that increases the mean upload speed to 1.05 or on process
improvement that reduces the standard deviation of the upload speed to 0.075?
z=(x-µ)/ σ
x=1.0
µ=1.05
σ=0.10
z= (1.0-1.05)/0.10
z= -0.5
z= .3085
Probability = .3085 * 100
Probability = 30.85%
z=(x-µ)/ σ
x=1.0
µ=1.005
σ=0.075
z= (1.0-1.05)/0.10
z= -0.067
z= .4761
Probability = .4761 * 100
Probability = 47.61%
Explanation: The team should focus to increase the mean since the probability that the upload speed is below
1.0 using the new mean 1.05 will result to 30.85%.