Business Statistics: For Contemporary Decision Making, 8th Edition

CHAPTER 18

Statistical Quality Control

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

This chapter presents basic concepts in quality control, with a particular emphasis on statistical quality control techniques, thereby enabling you to:

1. Explain the meaning of quality in business, compare the approaches to quality improvement by various quality gurus and movements, and compare different approaches to controlling the quality of a product, including benchmarking, just-in-time inventory systems, Six Sigma, lean manufacturing, reengineering, failure mode and effects analysis, poka-yoke, and quality circles.

2. Compare various tools that identify, categorize, and solve problems in the quality improvement process, including flowcharts, Pareto analysis, cause-and-effect diagrams, control charts, check sheets, histograms, and scatter charts.

3. Measure variation among manufactured items using various control charts, including charts, R charts, p charts, and c charts.

Italy's Piaggio Makes a Comeback

Piaggio, founded in Genoa, Italy, in 1884 by a 20-year-old young man named Rinaldo Piaggio, began as a luxury ship fitting company. Expanding on its services and products by the year 1900, the company was also producing ...