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The stochastic control of process capability indices

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Abstract

In manufacturing science, process capability indices play a role analogous to economic indices in government statistics. The existing capability indices are passive devices whose main role is to retroactively monitor process capability. The have been developed under the restrictive assumption of process stability, and the procedures for using them are based on ad hoc rules. Using the normative point of view for decision making, it can be shown that some of the indices are, at best, convoluted special cases of a more general strategy; they can be justified only under special assumptions, and the manner in which they are currently used could lead to incoherent actions. The available process capability indices should therefore be abandoned and replaced by procedures that are normative, and also proactive with respect to both, prediction and control. An approach towards achieving this goal is proposed.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The George Washington University, 20052, Washington, DC

    Nozer D. Singpurwalla

  2. University of Wisconsin, USA

    G. Box

  3. University of Oxford, UK

    D. R. Cox

  4. University of Connecticut, USA

    D. K. Dey

  5. Institute for Defense Analyses, USA

    A. Fries

  6. Indian Statistical Institute, India

    J. K. Ghosh

  7. Purdue University, USA

    J. K. Ghosh

  8. Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain

    M. A. Gómez-Villegas

  9. The George Washington University, USA

    T. Z. Irony

  10. Iowa State University, USA

    W. Kliemann

  11. The George Washington University, USA

    S. Kotz

  12. UK

    D. V. Lindley

  13. Sarnoff Corporation, USA

    M. F. McGrath

  14. Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain

    D. Peña

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  1. Nozer D. Singpurwalla
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Additional information

Research Sponsored by The National Institute of Standards and Technology Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899-0001 (Under Purchase Order No. 43NANB610868), The U.S. Army Research Office Grant DAAG-55-97-1-0323, and The Air Force Office of Scientific Research Grant AFOSR-F-49620-95-0107

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Singpurwalla, N.D., Box, G., Cox, D.R. et al. The stochastic control of process capability indices. Test 7, 1–74 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02565102

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