Question 1

One part of the process of making ignition keys for cars consist of cutting grooves
into raw key banks. Some of the groove dimensions are critical to the proper
functioning of the keys. Suppose we want to study one critical groove. Keys are
produced at a high volume so we take sample of five keys every twenty minutes and
carefully measure the dimension of this groove. Table 1 below shows key
measurements.

Table 1. Ignition key measurements

Sample Samplesize
Means Ranges
Number x1 x2 x3 x4 x5
1 6.1 8.4 7.6 7.6 4.4 6.82 4
2 8.8 8.3 7.6 7.4 5.9 7.6 2.9
3 8 8 9.4 7.5 7 7.98 2.4
4 6.7 7.6 6.4 7.1 8.8 7.32 2.4
5 8.7 8.4 8.8 9.4 8.6 8.78 1
6 7.1 5.2 7.2 8.8 5.2 6.7 3.6
7 7.8 8.9 8.7 6.5 6.8 7.74 2.4
8 8.7 9.4 8.6 7.3 7.1 8.22 2.3
9 7.4 8.1 8.6 8.3 8.7 8.22 1.3
10 8.1 6.5 7.5 8.9 9.7 8.14 3.2
11 7.8 9.8 8.1 6.2 8.4 8.06 3.6
12 8.9 9 7.9 8.7 9 8.7 1.1
13 8.7 7.5 8.9 7.6 8.1 8.16 1.4
14 8.4 8.3 7.2 10 6.9 8.16 3.1
15 7.4 9.1 8.3 7.8 7.7 8.06 1.7
16 6.9 9.3 6.4 6 6.4 7 3.3
17 7.7 8.9 9.1 6.8 9.4 8.38 2.6
18 8.9 8.1 7.3 9.1 7.9 8.26 1.8
19 8.1 9 8.6 8.7 8 8.48 1
20 7.4 8.4 9.2 7.4 10.3 8.54 2.9

a) Construct chart for the mean and the range and comment on process
stability.Formulas and constants needed can be found in Table 2.

(10 marks)

b) Referring to data calculated in first part of the question consider satisfaction

limits as 7±2. Analyse process capability and interpret the results.
(10 marks)

c) Identify the causes of variation and suggest an action plan to reduce it.
 (5 marks)

Question 1 continued

Table 2. Constant table and control limit formulas