How to Calculate Upper & Lower Control Limits

Upper and lower control limits are an important part of statistical quality
control, an indispensable mathematical tool used in manufacturing and other
disciplines. The limits tell a manufacturer if random variations in the production
process are indeed random or if they arise from problems such as tool wear, flawed
materials or environmental changes. The calculation is a relatively simple one,
relying on statistical mean and standard deviation.

The Causation of Variation

Every process contains variation. For example, two pieces of metal produced by the
same manufacturer will not always have exact same thickness; the thickness will
vary to a degree. Usually, that variation is natural and randomly distributed,
which means that the differences are scattered around the average. Sometimes,
however, that variation stems from special causes. If the variation comes from a
non-natural source, this implies that the process is out of control. The
determination of whether variation comes from a non-natural source relies on an
important statistical concept: the standard deviation, which is a measure of the
variation of the process.

Statistics: Defining Processes’ Characteristics

Statistically, a process is in control if the majority of its variation falls
within a certain range. Manufacturers will set that range by calculating the upper
and lower control limits. They then use those limits to check whether a process is
in or out of control. An in-control process produces results that fall within three
standard deviations of the average. This is because a natural process only produces
results that fall outside the three-standard-deviations range 1 percent of the
time, according to the properties of the statistical normal distribution.

Abstract Statistics into Tangible Limits

You can easily calculate the upper and lower control limits through sampling the
process and running a few calculations. Statistical computing packages can make
this process simple, but you can still perform it by hand. Collect a sample
composed of at least 20 measurements from the process in question. Find the average
and standard deviation of the sample. Add three times the standard deviation to the
average to get the upper control limit. Subtract three times the standard deviation
from the average to get the lower control limit.

Algebra Is Enough
Algebra is all that you need to calculate the control limits by hand. Calculate the
mean by summing the measurements and dividing by the sample size. Calculate the
standard deviation by subtracting each measurement from the mean and squaring the
results individually. Next, sum the set of individual numbers. Divide the sum by
the sample size minus one. Finally, square the result to compute the standard
deviation.