Example 10.
1: A quality control inspector at the Cocoa soft drink company has taken
twenty-five samples with four observations each of the volume of bottles filled. The data and
the computed means are shown in the table. If the standard deviation of the bottling operation
is 0.14 ounces, use this information to develop control limits of three standard deviations for
the bottling operation.
Observations (Bottle Volume in
Sample Ounces) Average Range
Number 1 2 3 4 ̅ R
1 15.85 16.02 15.83 15.93 15.91 0.19
2 16.12 16.00 15.85 16.01 16.00 0.27
3 16.00 15.91 15.94 15.83 15.92 0.17
4 16.20 15.85 15.74 15.93 15.93 0.46
5 15.74 15.86 16.21 16.10 15.98 0.47
6 15.94 16.01 16.14 16.03 16.03 0.20
7 15.75 16.21 16.01 15.86 15.96 0.46
8 15.82 15.94 16.02 15.94 15.93 0.20
9 16.04 15.98 15.83 15.98 15.96 0.21
10 15.64 15.86 15.94 15.89 15.83 0.30
11 16.11 16.00 16.01 15.82 15.99 0.29
12 15.72 15.85 16.12 16.15 15.96 0.43
13 15.85 15.76 15.74 15.98 15.83 0.24
14 15.73 15.84 15.96 16.10 15.91 0.37
15 16.20 16.01 16.10 15.89 16.05 0.31
16 16.12 16.08 15.83 15.94 15.99 0.29
17 16.01 15.93 15.81 15.68 15.86 0.33
18 15.78 16.04 16.11 16.12 16.01 0.34
19 15.84 15.92 16.05 16.12 15.98 0.28
20 15.92 16.09 16.12 15.93 16.02 0.20
21 16.11 16.02 16.00 15.88 16.00 0.23
22 15.98 15.82 15.89 15.89 15.90 0.16
23 16.05 15.73 15.73 15.93 15.86 0.32
24 16.01 16.01 15.89 15.86 15.94 0.15
25 16.08 15.78 15.92 15.98 15.94 0.30
Total 398.67 7.17
Solution: The center line of the control data is the average of the samples:
̅
̿= = = 15.95
The control limits are:
UCL = ̿+ ̅ = 15.95 + 3( ) = 16.16
√
LCL = ̿- ̅ = 15.95 - 3( ) = 15.74
√
Constructing a Mean (x-Bar) Chart from the Sample Range
Another way to construct the control limits is to use the sample range as an estimate of the
variability of the process. Remember that the range is simply the difference between the largest
and smallest values in the sample. The spread of the range can tell us about the variability of the
data. In this case control limits would be constructed as follows:
Upper control limit (UCL) = ̿ + A2 ̅
Lower control limit (LCL) = ̿ - A2 ̅
Where: ̿ = Average of the sample means
̅ = Average range of the samples
A2 = Factor obtained from Table
Notice that A2 is a factor that includes three standard deviations of ranges and is dependent on
the sample size being considered
̿ = 15.95 ounces
̅= = = 0.29 ounces
The value of A2 is obtained from table. For n = 4, A2 = 0.73. This leads to the following limits:
The center of the control line = CL = 15.95 ounces
UCL = ̿ + A2 ̅ = 15.95 + (0.73) (0.29) = 16.16
LCL = ̿ - A2 ̅ = 15.95 - (0.73) (0.29) = 15.74
Example 10.3: A production manager at a tire manufacturing plant has inspected the number of
defective tires in twenty random samples with twenty observations each. Following are the
number of defective tires found in each sample:
Number
Sample of Number of
Numbe Defective Observation Proportion
r Tires s Sampled Defective
1 3 20 0.15
2 2 20 0.10
3 1 20 0.05
4 2 20 0.10
5 1 20 0.05
6 3 20 0.15
7 3 20 0.15
8 2 20 0.10
9 1 20 0.05
10 2 20 0.10
11 3 20 0.15
12 2 20 0.10
13 2 20 0.10
14 1 20 0.05
15 1 20 0.05
16 2 20 0.10
17 4 20 0.20
18 3 20 0.15
19 1 20 0.05
20 1 20 0.05
Total 40 400
Construct a three-sigma control chart (z=3) with this information.
Solution: The center line of the chart is:
CL = ̅ = = = 0.10
( ) ( )( )
=√ =√ = 0.067
UCL = ̅ + Z( ) = 0.10 + 3(0.067) = 0.301
LCL = ̅ - Z( ) = 0.10 - 3(0.067) = -0.101 = 0
In this example the lower control limit is negative, which sometimes occurs because the
computation is an approximation of the binomial distribution. When this occurs, the LCL is
rounded up to zero because we cannot have a negative control limit.
The resulting control chart is as follows:
Example 10.4: The number of weekly customer complaints are monitored at a large hotel.
Complaints have been recorded over the past twenty weeks. Develop three-sigma control limits
using the following data:
Week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Complaints 3 2 3 1 3 3 2 1 3 1 3 4 2 1 1 1 3 2 2 3
Solution: The average number of complaints per week is ̅= = = 2.2
UCL = ̅ + Z√ ̅ = 2.2 + 3√ = 6.65
LCL = ̅ - Z√ ̅ = 2.2 - 3√ = -2.25 = 0
