An Effective Exercise for Teaching Statistical Process Control: Quality Control in Toothpick Manufacturing
Carol Lindee and Sudipta Roy
University of St. Francis, College of Business & Health Administration, USA
Volume 14: 2020, pp. 129-154; ABSTRACT
Statistical Process Control (SPC) is a common method to monitor a manufacturing process to determine if it is producing within parameters known as “control limits”. If the process is functioning outside of those parameters, it is said to be “out of control” due to assignable causes of variation. Based on the company’s business strategy, incorporating financial and customer service goals, adjustments to the process would be made as appropriate. This article proposes an exercise to illustrate the use of SPC in a toothpick manufacturing facility, for introductory or advanced courses covering SPC. A hands-on activity familiarizes students with possible aspects of quality-control in the toothpick making and filling processes. Next, students are provided with a real dataset for the actual SPC analysis. The analysis will reveal a toothpick manufacturing process that lacks consistency in the number (or proportion) of defective toothpicks, and doesn’t consistently fill the boxes in alignment with the stated label count.
.jpg)
