2.

34

Statistical Process Control

D. H. F. LIU

(1995)

J. F. TATERA

Software Package Suppliers:

(2005)

ABB Inc. (www.abb.com)

Aspen Technology Inc. (www.aspentech.com)
CyboSoft (www.cybosoft.com)
Foxboro Co. (www.foxboro.com)
Honeywell (www.acs.honeywell.com and www.honeywell.com/imc)
JMP Software (www.jmp.com)
Lifestar (www.qimacros.com)
Minitab Inc. (www.minitab.com)
Northwest Analytical (www.nwasoft.com)
Oil Systems Inc.PI (www.osisoft.com)
Pavillion Technologies Inc. (www.pavtech.com)
Rosemount Inc./Emerson Process Management (www.rosemount.com and
www.emersonprocess.com)
Siemens (www.sea.siemens.com/ia)
Software Toolbox (www.softwaretoolbox.com)
StatPoint LLC. (www.statpoint.com)
StatSoft (www.statsoft.com)
Stochos Inc. (www.stochos.com)
Wonderware (www.wonderware.com)
Yokogawa (www.yokogawa.com/us)
Zontec Inc. (www.zontec-spc.com)

INTRODUCTION
The goal of statistical process control (SPC) is to detect
whether a process has undergone statistical abnormality
that is, a shift from its normal statistical behavior. The use
of statistical techniques to detect variations in product quality
and consistency dates back to Walter Shewharts work at Bell
Laboratories in the early 1900s. His work resulted in the
development of statistical quality charts (Shewhart charts).
These charts are still used for analyzing patterns in product
variability. In the 1940s and 1950s, W. Edwards Demings
work in statistical quality control (SQC) methodology
evolved into a 14-point management program for quality
improvement. His approach emphasized the application of
statistical principles to control the production process.
As with most other applications of statistics, different
statistical methods operate under certain assumptions. These
methods are subject to signicant abuse and misuse when the
assumptions are not understood and the methods are applied
to data sets that they should not be used on. Most of these
assumptions have to do with the nature of the data set (homogeneous, randomness, distribution shape, data collection
techniques, etc.). A number of different charting techniques

are available. This allows the user to select the one(s) that
are most appropriate for their data set. Before going into the
specics, some general comments are appropriate.
SPC and Process Control
Just as a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller
needs to be tuned to properly control individual loops, so an
SPC process can be thought of as a means of tuning the overall
process. SPC might not be considered by process control engineers as part of process control. It is a powerful statistical tool
to help verify whether a process is performing properly and to
help troubleshoot the process if a correction or improvement
is desired.
We usually think of control in terms of a direct correction
applied to the process in response to a change in the control
variable. This is the case with both the open-loop control conguration (where a human manually initiates the correction)
and the closed-loop (where an automatic controller initiates it).
One might think of SPC as an extreme form of open-loop
control. SPC uses statistical process monitoring techniques to
determine the status of the process, a combination of statistical and troubleshooting techniques to identify the cause(s)
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2006 by Bla Liptk