I’m not a statistician, but I happen to know a few (and I play one on TV). I have heard rumors—from non-statisticians, I must say—that Cpk and Ppk, as useful tools for statistical process control (SPC), are dead. I’m here to tell you that is absolutely false. Cpk and Ppk are alive and well…but (big … Continued

All departments within a company are interrelated. In many cases, the quality management team plays a central role that affects all other departments’ metrics and impacts a business’ bottom line. For example, if a product does not meet the standard quality levels, then sales are impacted and customer satisfaction goes down. Any rework, recalls, and returns can cause changes in … Continued

Control charts are useful tools. There’s no doubt about it. They’ve been used for decades by operators and engineers to better understand their processes and know when it is time to adjust them. But as long as appropriate statistical rules are in place and those rules are being monitored by an ever-watching computer, do operators … Continued

If you have already made the decision to embrace a statistical process control (SPC) method—such as a control chart, which can visually track processes and abnormalities—you are already well on your way to bringing manufacturing quality control to your operations. So, what’s the next step?  Determining which type of control chart to use. “That decision is based … Continued

The year was 1988, and I found myself standing in a sumptuous conference room with nearly 700 attendees at the iconic Hotel del Coronado. I was attending a four-day conference on quality led by Dr. W. Edwards Deming himself. It was my first professional trip outside of Seattle where I worked as a newly employed statistician … Continued

A bottling company is more than just a company that mixes drink ingredients and fills up cans and bottles with the drink. It’s a purveyor of things we use and enjoy every day. It supplies the products we love to the stores we frequent in containers that give us a sense of continuity, comfort, and … Continued

In today’s blog we’re revisiting a favorite topic of ours, statistical process control (SPC), this time with guest Ian Farrell, Quality Manager for Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc. in the Pacific Northwest. He’s a proponent of using SPC in manufacturing and has been using InfinityQS quality management software for a while now. Statistical Process Control is … Continued