Practice Problems: Supplement 6 (S6), Statistical Process Control

Problem 1:
Twenty-five engine mounts are sampled each day and found to have an average width of 2 inches,
with a standard deviation of 0.1 inches. What are the control limits that include 99.73% of the
sample means ( Z 3) ?
Problem 2:
Several samples of size n 8 have been taken from todays production of fence posts. The average
post was 3 yards in length and the average sample range was 0.015 yard. Find the 99.73% upper
and lower control limits.
Problem 3:
The average range of a process is 10 lbs. The sample size is 10. Use Table S6.1 to develop upper
and lower control limits on the range.
Problem 4:
Based on samples of 20 IRS auditors, each handling 100 files, we find that the total number of
mistakes in handling files is 220. Find the 95.45% upper and lower control limits.
Problem 5:
There have been complaints that the sports page of the Dubuque Register has lots of typos. The last
6 days have been examined carefully and the number of typos/page is recorded below. Is the
process in control using Z 2?

Day

Number of Typos

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

ANSWERS:
Problem 1:

2 3 0.1

UCLX X Z X 2 3 0.1
LCLX X Z X

25 2 0.06 1.94 inches

25 2 0.06 2.06 inches

Problem 2:
X 3 yds
R 0.015 yds
A2 = 0.373 from Table S6.1
UCL X A2 R 3 0.373(0.015) 3.006 yds
LCL X A2 R 3 0.373(0.015) 2.994 yds
Problem 3:
From Table S6.1, D4 = 1.78 and D3 = 0.22
UCLR D4 R (1.78)(10) 17.8 lbs
LCLR D3 R (0.22)(10) 2.2 lbs
Problem 4:
P

Total number of mistakes

220

0.11
Total number of files
(100)(20)

(0.11)(1 011
. )
0.03
100

UCLP P z P 0.11 (2)(0.03) 0.17

LCLP P Z P 0.11 (2)(0.03) 0.05

Problem 5:
C 15 6 2.5
UCLC C 2 2.5 2.5 2(1.58) 5.66
LCLC C 2 2.5 2.5 2(1.58) 0.66 (or 0)
As none of the observations are outside the control limits, the process is in statistical control.
However, it might be a worthwhile effort to investigate why no typos were made on Saturday. We
would like to better understand this effort so it can be repeated on other days.