PROCESS VARIABILITY &

PROCESS CAPABILITY

MEP04

RUTIK PATEL
JAIMILKUMAR JOSHI
RAJAT GOHIL
PROCESS CAPABILITY
 A PROCESS is a unique combination of tools, materials,
methods, and people engaged in producing measurable
output; for example a manufacturing line for machine
parts. All processes have inherent statistical variability
which can be evaluated by statistical methods.
 PROCESS CAPBILITY – It is the ability of the process
to meet the design specification for a service or product.
 Every production engineer knows that repetitive
production cycles (seemingly identical in their conditions
and governing parameters) result in products that are not
identical in their characteristics. the reason for this is
simply that the production cycles are not really identical in
every respect.
 First, the raw materials vary slightly in their properties
from batch to batch, and these variations may affect the
properties of the final product. 
 Secondly, operators are different from each other in their
skill, performance, aptitude, and interest in their work.
 Thirdly, the parameters of the operations may change
from cycle to cycle, as may the speeds, the motions of
the operators, and the characteristics of the tools and
machines.
 Fourthly, external conditions such as temperature,
pressure, light, and humidity may vary. 
 Figure 1.1 Causes of variation in the production process

Two parts of process capability are :

1. Measures the variability of a process
2. Compare the variability with a proposed specification or product
tolerance
INHERENT VARIABILITY
  In specifying physical dimensions, strength, density,
composition, etc., an ideal quantity is indicated, but at
the same time it is pointed out that deviations from this
ideal figure will be tolerated, provided they remain
within predetermined limits.
 One of the purposes of quality control is to decide
whether these tolerances are compatible with the
inherent variabilities of the processes.
 The inherent variability
of process output relative
to the variation allowed
by the design or customer
specification.
 Customer has specific
requirement, this specific
requirements are captured
by market research and it
is called specification
limits.
LSL = Lower specification limit
USL = Upper specification limit
 This specification limits are tolerance band within which
product would be treated to be ok and if it goes beyond
that specification limits the product would be considered
to be off-spec.
 As shown in above fig. ,two blue region indicate
different points which are below the specification limits
and above the specification limits. No one going to buy
these products because they are beyond specification
limits.
 It is very important that we design processes and operate
them in manner that keeps the total process inside the
specification limits all the time, such a process will be
called a capable process.
Normal distribution of process

Fig 2. The normal curve

Here , σ = variability of the process

Within the limits ±0.67σ of the centerline there

will be 50% of the cases.
Within the limits ±σ of the centerline there will
be 68.3 % of the cases.
Within the limits ±2σ of the centerline there will be
95.5% of the cases.
Within the limits ±3σ of the centerline there will
be 99.7% of the cases.
 In normal processes ±3σ limits are usually adopted; in
other words, we expect 99.7 % of the result to fall within
the ±3σ limits.
 So, if the output is normally distributed ,±3σ covers
almost all outputs & if results begin to appear beyond
those limits, we begin to feel uncomfortable.
 In using statistical methods for process control, we
attempt to distinguish between two sources of
variability:
1. Inherent process variability caused by the various factor
2. External causes that results in consistent trends or shift of
the mean value of measured attribute.
 The inherent process variability cannot be removed
unless some basic change in the conditions is introduced,
such as an over-all repair or a change of machines.
 As long as the process variations are confined to the
inherent process variability, the process is said to be in
statistical control, and the study of this inherent
variability reveals whether the process is capable of
producing work within the specifications.
 Fig 3 shows the process variability of two machines A
and B.
Fig 3. Process capability
 Machine A has a far narrower spread than that of machine
B, the spread being determined by 6σ of the corresponding
frequency distribution.
 Suppose the specified dimension of the component are
x±a.
 If the tolerances are narrower than the process variability
of machine B but wider than that of machine A, i.e., 6σA <
2a < 6σB as shown in fig. 3, and provided the mean
dimension of the products can be made to coincide with x,
then we may conclude that:
1. Machine A is more suitable than machine B; even small shifts
in the mean dimension will not result in any appreciable
amount of scrap.
2. Machine B will produce a certain amount of defectives and
may be used if 100% inspection is undertaken to sort out the
good from the bad after production.
 These remarks should not be interpreted to mean that the
narrower the process variability, the better.
 If in the above example 2a > 6σB , machine B is

perfectly capable of handling the job.

 we may find that by assigning it to machine A, we are
using a machine that is far too precise , and too costly.
 The study of process capability is, therefore, an
economic problem that has to take into account the
chances and effects of shifts in the mean, the cost of
operating the machines, the cost of sorting when 100%
inspection becomes necessary, and the loss due to scrap.
 TWO PROCESS CAPABILITIES

Capable process Non capable process

CAPABILITY ANALYSIS
 Capability analysis determines whether the inherent
variability of the process output falls within the acceptable
range of the variability allowed by the design
specifications for the process output.
 The range of possible solution:

1. Redesign the process so that it can achieve the desired output.

2. Use an alternate process that can achieve the desired output.
3. Retain the current process but attempt to eliminate
unacceptable output using 100% inspection.
4. Examine the specification to see whether they are necessary
or could be relaxed without adversely affecting customer
satisfaction.
PROCESS CAPABILITY INDICES
Process capability ratio
Cp

​
 A process can have a Cp greater than 1 but still fail to
consistently meet customer expectations, as illustrate
below:
Example:
Dimension specification = 9.0 ± 0.5
Process mean = 9.20
Process standard deviation = 0.12

 Here, cp >1 so you may think that process is good, but as

you can see process is not centered, so this process is not
good enough.
 So Cpk is introduced which include process mean.
Process capability index:

Where,
USL and LSL –upper and lower specification limits
–Target for the process or mean of the process

Now we take the example of same data that is

given above;

Here, cpk <1 which indicates that part of the

production is beyond one of the specification limits.
So we can say that process is not capable
 Comparison of CP & CPK
CP CPK Remarks
>1 >1 •Process is capable
•Process running closer
or near to target
>1 <1 •Process is potentially
capable i.e. Process
spread due to variation is
less but not centered.
•Bring CPK closure to
target by local action
<1 <1 •Process is not capable.
•Management action
required for process
improvement.
Process Performance Capability PPK

Where, = process mean

s = sample standard deviation

 Difference between CPK & PPK :

 PPK is based on same equation as CPK with one
exception; PPK employs the long term standard
deviation whereas CPK employs the short term
standard deviation.
 EXAMPLE
 A manufacturer of cable wire wants to asses if the diameter of the
cable meets the specification. A cable wire must be 0.55 ±0.05 cm in
diameter to meet engineering specification. Analyst evaluate the
capability of the process to insure it is meeting the customer
requirement. Analyst take the subgroup of 5 consecutive cable wires
from the production line and record the diameter.

Subgroup Wire 1 Wire 2 Wire 3 Wire 4 Wire 5

(cm) (cm) (cm) (cm) (cm)

1 0.529 0.550 0.555 0.541 0.559

2 0.543 0.557 0.559 0.581 0.551
3 0.493 0.534 0.527 0.511 0.565
4 0.559 0.519 0.562 0.551 0.530
 •The manufacturer
must improve the
process by
 Reducing
variability and
 Centering the
process on the
target

•The manufacturer is not

meeting customer
requirements and should
improve it process by
reducing process
22138 out of 1 million variation.
cable do not meet the
specification
THANK YOU