Practical Control Charts: Control Charts Made Easy!

By Colin Hardwick

Control Charts have been used around the world to monitor and measure process variation and allow real positive changes to be made. The majority of engineers and scientists have had some exposure to this important technique but in many cases this has been badly taught and they fail to see the usefulness of it properly applied.

This book has been written with the authors 30 years experience in constructing Control Charts and is aimed squarely at practising engineers and scientists rather than statisticians and mathematicians. Practical Control Charts takes a graphical approach using a software tool called Minitab. The author concentrates on each step of using the technique with explanations along the way of each decision point. Readers will find this guide both practical and useful, with copious screenshots of the software in use and clear precise explanations. The emphasis is on understanding the technique and being able to use it in real world applications.

Key points:
* Provides tools and techniques for practical business and process improvement.
* Introduces screenshots and explanations for each step of selecting and constructing Control Charts including correct interpretation and effective decision making.
* Worked examples, using Minitab sample data with clear explanations of the variables and analyses.This book will be extremely useful to engineers and scientists who want to solve quality, process and manufacturing problems quickly and easily.

About the Author
Colin Hardwick is the leading expert in the practical use of Control Charts in the UK. He holds a Masters Degree in Manufacturing Systems from Warwick University and a Bachelors Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Sheffield. He has trained people extensively in Control Charts and is Managing Director of Hardwick Consultants Ltd. A qualified Master Black Belt in Lean Six Sigma, he has also worked for other major companies such as Chemring PLC, Rolls-Royce and GEC.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Colin Hardwick
• Release date: Aug 30, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463224328

Colin Hardwick

Owner of Liberation Media Ltd, a company dedicated to producing quality media, including ebooks, excel trading models and other media.

Book preview

Practical Control Charts

Control Charts Made Easy

By

Colin Hardwick

Copyright © Colin Hardwick

Smashwords Edition

Portions of information contained in this publication/book are printed with permission of Minitab Inc. All such material remains the exclusive property and copyright of Minitab Inc.

All rights reserved.

Contents

Introduction

What are Control Charts?

When Should They Be Used?

Main steps in constructing control charts

Summary

Introduction

This guide has been produced specifically for engineers to implement control charts and gain maximum understanding of a process to improve it. It will allow you to solve real world problems. It does not discuss the history or mathematics of the technique except where absolutely necessary to illustrate an important point.

Control Charts are an incredibly powerful tool in the right hands and will allow proper understanding of process performance. This will, in turn, allow that process to be improved and eliminate wasted activity based on assumed knowledge of a process rather than actual data.

In this guide, a software package called Minitab® Statistical Software is used to construct control charts and analyse process performance. You can download a free 30-day trial at www.minitab.com

Minitab is just one software package that will do this but it is my preferred package simply because I believe it to be the best available – both for ease of use and accuracy of analysis. I have included several screenshots taken from Minitab where such screenshots aid explanation.

Traditional teaching of Control Charts is generally poor in my opinion. This is for two principal reasons;

The teaching is carried out by a mathematician or statistician, who blinds the student with complex formulae and makes the subject seem far more complex than necessary. Result; students who will forever decry the technique as too complex or too time consuming to be of any practical use in the real engineering world.

The teaching is carried out by a real-world engineer, who does not have sufficient grasp of the subject