INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC & TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH VOLUME 9, ISSUE 03, MARCH 2020 ISSN 2277-8616

Process Capability Analysis In Filling Operation –

A Case Study
Arzak M. E., A. Wazeer, Essam K. Saied Ayman A. Abd-Eltwab

Abstract: The aim of this study is to conduct process capability analysis in filling operation. A process capability index can be described as identifying
the behavior of a process compared to the engineering specifications. These measures are often called capability or performance indices. Capability
indices is applied widespread in industries. The objective of this study is to conduct process capability analysis for filling operation. Industrial example to
illustrate filling process monitoring using process capability analysis is presented. The results showed that, the process capability analysis is able to
monitor the filling process quality.

Keywords: Process capability analysis, statistical process control, filling operation, control chart.
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1 INTRODUCTION They stated that, the assumption of normality needs to be

Measuring of a process capability is to know how well the
process will meet specification and level of control necessity.
Process capability expresses also the ability of the integration
of machine, material, people, and methods to obtain a product
that will regularly meet engineering specifications. The
techniques used for the process capability analysis are
histograms, probability plots, and control charts. Control
charts and process capability are the effective process
monitoring analysis methods (Sagawa & Yamada, 2013).
Before analyzing the process capability, the process must be
in statistical quality control condition. After the process
stability (the process in state of statistical control) has been
approved, normality tests must be applied on the process
data. Histogram and probability plot are used to test the
normality of the data. Process capability can be measured by
capability indices. Process capability indices measures the
ability of process to meet the required engineering
specifications, the most common capability indices used in
the manufacturing industries are CP, Cpk, Cpm, and Cpmk for
evaluating the process performance. Pearn and Lin (Pearn &
Lin, 2004) studied the process capability indices such as C p,
Cpk, and CPm. They concluded that, the process capability
index Cpm is better for customer protection. Hsin-Hung (WU,
2004)studied the relationship among loss function, process
capability indices and control charts. He stated that by
applying the target cost philosophy the quality of products is
improved. Rezaie et al (Rezaie, Ostadi, & Taghizadeh, 2006)
showed how to use the process capability indices and predict
the performance of the process. They stated that, the Cp
value of 1.33 is the most commonly acceptable, and Cpk
greater than 1.33 means the process is capable. Ghasemi
and Zahediasl (Ghasemi & Zahediasl, 2012) presented the
procedures for checking normality of data in statistical
analysis.
checked and if the P-value in the P-P plot greater than 0.05
indicates normal distribution of data. Subramani and
balamurali (Subramani & Balamurali, 2012) proposed
capability-based control charts method in industrial
application for on-line process control. This method is simple
to apply and does not warrant any tedious computation for
control charts and process capability. Sagawa and Yamada
(Sagawa & Yamada, 2013) stated that, the application of
statistical process control tools such as control charts and
process capability allowed improving the production process.
Orssatto et al (ORSSATTO, VILAS BOAS, NAGAMINE, &
URIBE-OPAZO, 2014) used control charts and process
capability ratios to evaluate the performance of the production
process. Swamy and Nagesh (Wooluru, Swamy, & Nagesh,
2014) showed the importance of process capability analysis
for monitoring and ensuring the production quality. They
concluded that, the process must be shown under statistical
control and process data is normally distributed before
evaluating the process capability. Mondal and Kundu (Mondal
& Kundu, 2014) stated that, the data which are collected from
the production process must to be normally distributed and
the process must to be statistically controlled. Singh and
Masuku (Singh & Masuku, 2014) stated that, normality is one
of the most important aspects for statistical analysis.
Babagana (Modu, 2015) presented the statistical performance
of some capability indices such as Cp and Cpk. He stated
that, Cp and Cpk are greater than one, and then the process
has the potential to meet the specifications as long as the
mean is probability centered. Nihan and sundus (Nihan &
Sundus, 2015) stated that process capability analysis is an
effective method for evaluating the process performance.
Raheem et al (Maruf et al, 2016) illustrated the importance of
statistical quality control in measuring quality performance in
manufacturing industries. The objective of this research is to
conduct process capability analysis for filling operation. this
study applied through experimental tests results obtained
from carbonated drink company as a case study for filling
operation.

2 MATERIALS AND METHODS

______________________________
1. Theoretical Analysis
 Arzak M. E., A. Wazeer, Essam K. Saied Ayman A. Abd-Eltwab The statistical treatment will be applied in order to optimize
 1Mechanical Engineering Department, Beni-Suef University, the quality of manufacturing processes output. By application
Beni-Suef, Egypt. of the statistical methods the pest procedures for
manufacturing process can be chosen to achieve the required
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level of quality. The various computational formula involved in Lower control limit (LCL )
constructing the control charts and for the computational of ̿
= - ̅ (3)
process capability indices are presented in the following Where:
sections. ̿ = The Grande average of the sample means.
̅ = The sample rang of all m samples.
2. Control chart ̅
A control chart is a graphical display of quality characteristics . .
that has been measured from a sample versus the sample
number. The chart contains a center line (CL) which
represents the average value of the quality characteristic. (4)
Two controls limits: upper control limit (UCL) and lower
control limit (LCL) are chosen when the process is in control, 4. The Range (R) chart
all the sample points will fall between them when the process - . -
in state of statistical control. ( ) and
3. the upper and lower control limits are computed as following
-chart is based on the mean of sample taken from the (Montgomry, 2009);
process under study. To construct a mean chart, we first need
to construct the center line (CL) of the chart which is CLR = ̅
computed as the mean of all in sample means (Montgomry, UCLR =
2009); . (5)
D4 ̅
̿ (1) LCLR = D3 ̅
. .. (6)

Where m represents the number of samples. To estimate the Whereas

upper and lower control limits of the ̅ - chart, the following
formulas are used; the values of A2, D3 and D4 are obtained from table
1(Montgomry, 2009).
Upper control limit (UCL ) =
̿ ̅ ........... ( )
Table 1: Constants used for estimation and construction of control charts.
n C4 D2 D3 A A2 A3 B3 B4 B5 B6 D1 D2 D3 D4
0.79 1.12 0.85 2.12 1.88 2.65 3.26 2.60 3.68 3.26
2 0 0 0 0
79 80 25 13 06 86 64 63 55 72
0.88 1.69 0.88 1.73 1.02 1.95 2.56 2.27 4.35 2.57
3 0 0 0 0
62 29 84 21 31 45 84 61 81 43
0.92 2.05 0.87 1.50 0.72 1.62 2.26 2.08 4.69 2.28
4 0 0 0 0
13 89 98 00 86 81 62 79 83 19
0.99 2.32 0.86 1.34 0.57 1.42 2.08 1.96 4.91 2.11
5 0 0 0 0
39 61 41 16 68 73 89 35 84 4
0.95 2.53 0.84 1.22 0.48 1.28 0.03 1.96 0.02 1.87 5.07 2.00
6 0 0
16 42 80 47 33 72 02 98 86 44 82 39
0.95 2.70 0.83 1.13 0.41 1.18 0.11 1.88 0.11 1.80 0.20 5.20 0.07 1.92
7
93 42 32 39 93 19 82 18 33 55 46 38 56 44
0.96 2.84 0.81 1.06 0.37 1.09 0.18 1.81 0.17 1.75 0.38 5.30 0.13 1.86
8
51 74 98 07 25 91 47 53 83 17 80 68 63 37
0.96 2.97 0.80 1.00 0.33 1.03 0.23 1.76 0.23 1.70 0.54 5.39 0.18 1.81
9
93 00 78 00 67 17 89 11 17 69 66 34 40 60
1 0.97 3.07 0.79 0.94 0.30 0.97 0.28 1.71 0.27 1.66 0.68 5.46 0.22 1.77
0 27 79 71 87 82 53 43 57 65 89 66 92 31 69
1 0.97 3.17 0.78 0.90 0.28 0.92 0.32 1.67 0.31 1.63 0.81 5.53 0.25 1.74
1 53 26 73 45 51 73 21 79 41 67 67 45 55 45
1 0.97 3.25 0.77 0.86 0.26 0.88 0.35 1.64 0.34 1.60 0.92 5.59 0.28 1.71
2 76 84 85 60 58 59 41 59 62 90 29 39 32 68
1 0.97 3.33 0.77 0.82 0.24 0.84 0.38 1.61 0.37 1.58 1.02 5.64 0.30 1.69
3 94 56 04 31 94 96 15 85 36 52 44 68 71 29
1 0.98 3.40 0.76 0.80 0.23 0.81 0.40 1.59 0.39 1.56 1.11 5.69 0.32 1.67
4 10 72 30 18 53 73 67 33 90 30 82 62 82 18
1 0.98 3.47 0.75 0.77 0.22 0.78 0.42 1.57 0.42 1.54 1.20 5.74 0.34 1.65
5 23 22 62 46 31 86 79 21 04 42 36 08 66 34
1 0.98 3.53 0.74 0.75 0.21 0.76 0.44 1.55 0.44 1.52 1.28 5.78 0.36 1.63
6 35 23 99 00 23 26 82 18 08 62 26 20 31 69
1 0.98 3.58 0.74 0.72 0.20 0.73 0.46 1.53 0.45 1.51 1.35 5.82 0.37 1.62
7 45 81 41 76 28 91 56 44 83 07 58 04 79 21
1 0.98 3.64 0.73 0.70 0.19 0.71 0.48 1.51 0.47 1.49 1.42 5.85 0.39 1.60
8 54 03 86 71 42 76 17 83 46 62 45 61 13 87
1 0.98 3.68 0.73 0.68 0.18 0.69 0.49 1.50 0.48 1.48 1.48 5.88 0.40 1.59
9 62 87 35 82 66 79 64 36 95 29 82 92 34 66
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2 0.98 3.73 0.72 0.67 0.17 0.67 0.50 1.49 0.50 1.47 1.54 5.92 0.41 1.58
0 70 55 87 08 96 97 96 04 29 09 94 16 48 52
2 0.98 3.77 0.72 0.65 0.17 0.66 0.52 1.47 0.51 1.45 1.60 5.95 0.42 1.57
1 75 79 42 47 33 29 31 69 66 86 53 05 49 51
2 0.98 3.81 0.71 0.63 0.16 0.64 0.53 1.46 0.52 1.44 1.66 5.97 0.43 1.56
2 82 97 99 96 74 72 49 51 87 77 00 94 46 54
2 0.98 3.85 0.71 0.62 0.16 0.63 0.54 1.45 0.53 1.43 1.71 6.00 0.44 1.55
3 87 80 59 55 21 27 51 49 90 84 03 57 33 67
2 0.98 3.89 0.71 0.61 0.15 0.61 0.55 1.44 0.54 1.42 1.75 6.03 0.45 1.54
4 92 56 21 24 72 91 55 45 95 89 93 19 16 84
2 0.98 3.93 0.70 0.60 0.15 0.60 0.56 1.43 0.55 1.42 1.80 6.05 0.45 1.54
5 96 08 84 00 26 63 39 61 81 11 56 60 93 07

5. Process Capability Indices
Process capability is identified by capability indices. Process
capability indices measure the ability of process to meet
engineering limits. process capability indices are only
significant for process in control condition. Process capability
indices have been widely used in industries for evaluating the
process performance. The most common capability indices
used in the manufacturing are Cp, Cpk, Cpm and Cpmk. The
techniques used for the process capability analysis probability
plots, control charts. Control charts are used to determine
whether a process operates under statistical control or not.
The process capability indices Cp, Cpk, Cpm, and Cpmk are
considered in this study, these indices explained and
estimated in the following sections.
6. Process capability index Cp
It evaluates the performance of the process related to the
production specifications. If the value of process capability
index Cp greater than 1.00 then the process is capable, and it
is located between the specification limits. It is not able to
evaluate the process centering. The formulation of the C p
index is given as (Wooluru, Swamy, & Nagesh, 2014),
-
(7)
6
process mean. The Cpm index estimated by the following
formulation (Wooluru, Swamy, & Nagesh, 2014):
(11)
̿-
√ ( )
Where,
T= The target value of the quality characteristic.
9. Experimental Work
An experimental program was designed to conduct process
capability analysis for filling operation. Tests were carried out
on the products of the machine which used to fill bottles with a
carbonated drink beverage. Subgroups of five bottles were
sampled regularly from the products and the fill volume
measured for each bottle in ml. Twenty-five subgroup of size
five bottles were used in the analysis. For measuring the fill
volume of the tested samples, Zahm Carbonation tester was
used, see figure 1. Tests were carried out in quality control
laboratory of carbonated drink beverage company, Beni –
Suef, Egypt.

Where,
USL = The upper specification limit of the quality
characteristic.
LSL = The lower specification limit of the quality
characteristic.
.

7. Process capability index Cpk

This capability index takes into consideration the process
location. This index does not consider whether the process
location deviates from the target, Cp index equals to Cpk index
when the process is centered. The Cpk index estimated by the
following formulation (Wooluru, Swamy, & Nagesh, 2014):
Cpk = Min [ Cpu or Cpl] (8) Figure 1. Zahm Carbonation Tester
Where,
-̿
(9) 3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3
The fill volumes measured of tested bottles for the case study
̿- are presented in Table 2. To assess the statistical stability of
(10) and R-charts were constructed.The
3
critical quality characteristic of the filling operation considered
8. Process capability index Cpm in this study is the volume of the ingredient in the bottle.
It is known as the taguchi capability index. This capability Equations 1,2, and 3 were used to calculate the center line
index reflects the process loss. Also, Cpm based on the (CL), upper control limit (UCL) and lower control limit (LCL)
difference between process mean and the target value. It can respectively for ̅ – chart. The calculated values of UCL, CL
establish more information than Cpk about the location of the and LCL are 1001.766 ml, 998.536 ml and 995.306 ml
respectively. Equations 4, 5 and 6 were used to calculate the
center line (CL), upper control limit (UCL) and lower control
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limit (LCL) respectively for R- chart. The calculated values of

UCL, CL and LCL are 11.84 ml 5.6 ml and 0.0 respectively.
Figure 2 shows the -chart and R-chart for the case study
data. It has been observed from figure 2 that, all plotted
sample mean, and range values are within the control limits
-chart and R-chart and no indication of shift has
been noticed. Hence, it is concluded that the process is under
statistical control and operating under the influence of only
chance causes of variation. The process must be shown
under statistical control before evaluating the process
capability, according to Orsatto et al.

1. Normal probability plot and histogram

For validating the normality of the case study data, graphical
methods including the histogram and normal probability plot
were used in this study. Figure 3 displays the histogram and
figure 4 displays the normal probability plot for the case study
data. From figures 3 and 4, it is clear that, the sample data
appears to be normal. Test results for normal probability plot
for the data from MINITAB-17 statistical software output
shows the process mean = 998.7 ml, standard deviation =
0.9517 ml, Anderson darling test statistic value = 0.320 and
P-value = 0.514. The P-value is greater than the significance
(α 0.05) y.
Thus, it is concluded that the sample data can be regarded as
taken from a normal process. The process data must be
shown normally distributed before evaluating the process
capability according to Orssato et al, Mondal, singh and
masukn.

Table 2. The measured values of the fill volume in the tested

bottles (Target value = 1000 ± 15 ml)
Sample Measurements
No. X1 X2 X3 X4 X5 ̅ R Figure 2 ̅ – chart and R – chart for the case study data.
1 996 997 999 1000 1001 998.6 5
2 997 998 996 1001 999 998.2 4
3 998 997 1002 1000 1001 999.6 5
4 1000 998 999 1001 1000 999.6 3
5 998 997 999 998 1001 998.6 4
6 1000 998 998 997 998 998.2 3
7 998 999 994 997 1002 998 8
8 1003 1001 1000 998 995 999.4 8
9 998 999 1000 1001 995 998.6 6
10 994 996 1001 1000 998 997.8 7
11 1003 1000 1001 995 994 998.6 9
12 996 998 999 994 997 996.8 5
13 1002 1003 1001 1000 998 1000.8 5
14 1001 998 997 999 1000 999.0 4
15 999 998 1001 1000 999.0 999.4 3
16 998 1000 1001 998 999.0 999.2 3
17 997 998 996 998 1000 997.8 4
18 1003 999 996 997 1003 999.6 7
19 1000 1001 995 994 996 997.2 7
20 998 999 994 997 1002 998 8
21 1003 1001 1000 998 995 999.4 8
22 998 999 1000 1001 995 998.6 6
23 994 996 1001 1000 998 997.8 7
24 999 996 995 998 999 997.4 4
25 995 1001 999 996 995 997.2 6
Figure 3 Histogram for the case study data.

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5 ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank Beni-Suef University and
Industrial Education College for helping in the research
procedures.
6 REFERENCES
Figure 4 Normal probability plot for the case study data.
2. Process Capability analysis
MINITAB-17, statistical software has been used to perform
process capability analysis, Process capability analysis for the
case study data shown in figure 5. From this figure, C p = 5.07,
Cpk = 4.57, and Cpm= 2.82. This case study analysis reveals
that Cp is not equal Cpk which implies that the process is not
exactly centered. Also, Cp, Cpk, and Cpm are not very nearer in
their magnitude and hence it can be state that process under
study is not exactly centered. The process capability indices
values for the study case are very good and meet 6
requirements. When the process capability Cpand Cpkare
greater than one, the process has the potential to meet the
specification according to Modu 2015.
Figure 5 Process capability analysis for the case study data
4 CONCLUSION
1. The case study was conducted in filling industry and
examined using CP, Cpk, Cpm and Cpmk index to
illustrate the importance of process capability
analysis for monitoring and ensuring the products
quality to satisfy the customers' requirements.
IJSTR©2020
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ISSN 2277-8616
2. The validation of process state of control and the
normal distribution of the quality characteristic must
be tested before estimating the process capability.
3. Process capability index Cpmk does provide more
capability assurance with respect to process yield
and process loss to the customers than the other two
indices Cpk and Cpm.
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