A First Course in Quality Engineering, 3rd Edition

4Quality in Production—Process Control I

In the last chapter, we discussed the quality methods employed in the product planning, product design, and process design stages of the product creation cycle. In this chapter, we discuss the quality methods used during the production stage of the cycle. The major tools used in the production stage are the control charts, of which several different types exist to handle the different types of product characteristics and process variables encountered in real-world processes. The three major types of charts needed to monitor the three major types of variables are discussed here. The measures for evaluating process capability, the ability of a process to produce products within customer’s specifications, ...