Article: Putting the PC in SPC

Need convincing about the case for professional SPC software in your organisation? Or need to convince someone else? A free guide is just what you need says Thomas Harding.

The case for implementing statistical process control (SPC) techniques is obvious to all of us. But SPC without professional SPC software is like doing any job without professional tools: at best it takes more time than it should, at worst it just doesn’t achieve the right results at all. With professional SPC software however, you get the job done accurately, reliably, and in a fraction of your time. Whether you need convincing of this or whether it’s obvious, but you need to present the case to management, you’ll find the free SPC Casebook from Adept Scientific well worth sending away for.

The SPC Casebook is a concise guide to the benefits of using professional SPC software to get the job done properly. The case study sheets start off with the case for using professional SPC software instead of Excel. As it says: “Excel takes a significant amount of time to set up for SPC use, and your time is money. Isn’t your job to actually make process improvements, rather than grapple with software?”

You’d like to see SPC demonstrated in real life? Take a look at the sheet on how statistical process control helps the National Blood Service, which says: “We can make improvements to the procedure and reassess data following the change. The software has improved our potential for a continual cycle of improvement and quality has already improved.”

If you’re in a lab setting, you’ll appreciate the sheet on Process Capability Analysis In Laboratory Quality Control. It examines Cp and Cpk, which provide the best quantitative measurements of method performance. It also shows how laboratory managers can benefit from these well-developed industrial models and use them to employ an established SQC tool that accurately describes laboratory proficiency while providing a means to evaluate and improve laboratory performance.

A second “real life” story looks at Statistical Quality Control at a components manufacturer. At BAS Components, Europe’s largest weld nut manufacturer, the introduction of NWA Quality Monitor into the manufacturing process, along with NWA Quality Analyst, has enabled significant cost savings to be made: coupled with time savings across the three shifts. Here’s how it’s been achieved. As the company reports: “The PCs are empowering for the operators. Now they can take action much sooner than they were able to with the paper documentation system.”

Finally, an invaluable sheet gives the steps to implementing Statistical Process Control. Implementing statistical process control might make sense to you, but there’s a big job to be done to convince everyone else – and to get them to make it work. Here are five factors you need to consider if you’re to successfully introduce and use SPC through-out your organisation. Advice includes: “Get someone from accounting to help with the calculations. If possible, get your senior management to see those numbers, taking into account operator overtime and machine costs.” Enough said.

To view or download other SPC Casebooks, please click here.