Contributing to the application of statistical process control (SPC) procedures
Overview
This standard covers the competences required for contributing to the application of statistical process control (SPC) procedures. It involves adhering to the principles and contributing to the processes of SPC to a selected process, and gathering all the necessary data for analysis in consultation with relevant people. You will be expected to contribute to the application of statistical process control procedures, utilising statistical and graphical methods to represent the process conditions. Typically, these would focus on simple run charts, tally charts, bar charts, histograms, run charts, box plots, time series charts, Pareto diagrams, and stem and leaf plots.
You will need to contribute to performing basic statistical process control, identifying special cause versus common cause. You will also be expected to contribute to identifying activities which will improve the process performance, and to contribute to the production of an action plan to implement the improvements. Calculation of the capability of the process will identify the process capability (Cp) and its index (Cpk).
Your responsibilities will require you to comply with organisational policy and procedures for the activities undertaken, and to report any problems that you cannot solve, or that are outside your responsibility, to the relevant authority. You will be expected to take responsibility for your own actions within the activity, and for the quality and accuracy of the work that you carry out.
Your underpinning knowledge will provide a good understanding of your work, and will provide an informed approach to the techniques and procedures used. You will need to understand the principles and procedures of statistical process control and its application, in adequate depth to provide a sound basis for carrying out the activities to the required criteria.
Applying safe working practices will be a key issue throughout.
Performance criteria
You must be able to:
- work safely at all times, complying with health and safety and other relevant regulations, directives and guidelines
- work to, and comply with all the required process monitoring documentation and work instruction sheets
- contribute to selecting and/or confirming the process on which the process analysis is to be carried out
- contribute to the consultation with relevant people and gathering of the necessary data for analysis
- apply the principles and contribute to the processes of statistical process control to the chosen process
- perform basic statistical process control, using appropriate tools and techniques
- contribute to statistical and graphical methods to represent the process conditions
- contribute to the identification of activities that will improve the process performance
- contribute to the production of an action plan to implement the improvements
Knowledge and Understanding
You need to know and understand:
- how to work safely at all times, complying with health and safety and other relevant regulations, directives and guidelines
- where process control fits in within a continuous improvement environment
- how process performance affects customer satisfaction and process costs
- where and why statistical process control is used
- the importance of standardisation within a process operation, and why process performance can only be determined when it is controlled
- how process control can improve process performance
- the benefits of prevention versus detection
- the two types of variation within a process (common cause and special cause)
- how to gather data and effectively analyse it, understanding how the data can be used to communicate abnormalities within a process
- the main types of control charts used for SPC
- what is meant by a
population' and asample' - the measurements of central tendency and variability
- the properties of a normal curve of distribution
- how to explain the terms mean, median, mode, standard deviation, range and variance
- how to explain process capability and its index (Cp and Cpk)
- the extent of your own authority, and to whom you should report in the event of problems that you cannot resolve
Scope/range
Scope Performance
- Contribute to the calculation of the capability of the process, identifying both:
- Cp
- Cpk
- Contribute to the production of charts and graphical methods for process and control information, to include two from:
- simple run charts
- tally charts
- bar charts
- histograms
- box plots
- time series charts
- Pareto diagrams
- stem and leaf plots
- run charts