Process Capability

Analysis
 Introduction
• Process capability is the ability of a process to consistently meet specified customer-driven
requirements .

• It represents the performance of a process in a state of statistical control. Thus, process capability
can also be viewed as the variation in the product quality characteristic that remains after all
special causes have been removed .

• Specification Limits are set by management in response to customer’s expectations .

• Upper Specification Limit (USL)-It is the largest value that can be obtained and still conform to
customer’s expectation .

• Lower Specification Limit (LSL)- It is smallest value that can be obtained and still conform to
customer’s expectation .
 Natural Tolerance Limits
• Natural tolerance limits, also known as process capability limits, are established by the process itself.

• They represent the inherent variation in the quality characteristic of the individual items produced by a
process in control.

• They are estimated based on the population of values or, more typically, from large representative samples.

• For a 3 sigma process the upper natural tolerance limit (UNTL), is 3 standard deviations above the process
mean; the lower natural tolerance limit (LNTL) is 3 standard deviations below the process mean.

UNTL = μ + 3𝞼

LNTL = μ - 3𝞼

Where μ is process mean and 𝞼 is process standard deviation

 Relationship b/w Specification And Natural
Tolerance Limits

• There might be no mathematical relationship between them.

• However there is a desired relationship between these two sets of limits i.e. the specification limits
are preferably outside the natural tolerance limits, in which case most of the units produced will be
acceptable.

• There are three cases that arise regarding this relationship.

 Process Spread Less Than Specification Spread

 Process Spread Equal to Specification Spread

 Process Spread Greater Than Specification Spread

 Process Spread Less Than Specification Spread

Specification Limits

LSL Process USL

• The process is quite capable. It represents the preferred situation .

• If the process mean is at the target value (assumed to be midway between the specification limits),
all items produced are well within specifications.
• There is some flexibility for the process to go out of control and still produce items within
specifications.
 Process Spread Equal To Specification Spread
Design
Specifications

LSL Process USL

• It is an acceptable or adequate situation .

• However there is no room for error .

• If such a process goes out of control (say, the process mean shifts or standard deviation increases) a
proportion of the product will immediately be nonconforming .
 Process Spread Greater Than Specification Spread
Design
Specifications

LSL Process USL

• It is an undesirable situation

• The inherent variability in the process exceeds the specification spread and such a process is not
capable.
• Several corrective approaches are – ( Possibility of increasing specification limits, Buy new
equipment, shift the process average to achieve a desirable balance in the proportion of scrap and
rework)
 Capability Indices

• Aggregate measures of a process’s ability to meet specification limits. Larger the values of these indices,
the more capable a process is of meeting requirements.

• The capability indices we describe here are non dimensional, which makes them even more versatile and
appealing because they do not depend on the specific process parameter units.

• The design principle of all indices approximately the same i.e. The ratio of prescribed (required)
accuracy and really achieved process accuracy is always observed.

• According to philosophy of the quality control approach, capability indices of any process can be
divided to the capability indices of the first generation and capability indices of second generation.
 First Generation Indices

• These indices are based on classical philosophy of the statistical process control.

• According to that philosophy all measurement results within required tolerance interval are intended to
be good.

• This approach is also known as goal post approach.

• The indices according to this philosophy are Cp and Cpk

 Second Generation Indices

• These indices are based on Taguchi quality approach

• According to Taguchi as soon as the process mean deviates from the target, a loss is generated and
quality becomes progressively worse. Therefore, just staying within specifications is not enough.

• The indices according to this philosophy are Cpm and Cpmk

 Capability Index Cp

• A common measure for describing the potential of a process to meet specifications is the Cp index.

• It relates the process spread to specification spread, assuming two-sided specification limits.

• It is calculated as :

𝑈𝑆𝐿 − 𝐿𝑆𝐿
𝐶𝑝 =
2𝐾𝜎

• Where K = 3 for 3 Sigma process and 𝜎 is standard deviation of process.

• It indicates that whether the process has the “potential” to be capable (depending on process centering). Cp (> 1)
indicates that process is capable at ‘K’ sigma level.

• If (Cp =1 and the process is centered) only 0.26% of the parts will fall outside the specification limits.

• If the process is not centered, it is possible that even for a process with Cp > 1, proportion of the product will be
nonconforming will be greater than 0.26%
 Calculation of Cp
• Net weight specification = 9.0 oz  0.5 oz

• USL=9.5 oz

• LSL=8.5 oz

• Process mean = 8.70 oz

• Process standard deviation = 0.15 oz

9.5−8.5
𝐶𝑝 =
6∗.15

1
=
0.9

Since Cp is greater than 1 it indicates that process has potential to be capable at 3σ

 Capability Index Cpk

90.88% within specifications

(which is even less than 2
sigma)
USL
LSL

• So for such cases when process mean is off centered Cp leads to misinterpretation and therefore a
new index is defined Cpk .
• It considered mean of the process and gives the actual capability of process.
• It is calculated as :
Cpk = Min ( CPL , CPU )
𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝑴𝒆𝒂𝒏−𝑳𝑺𝑳 𝑼𝑺𝑳−𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝑴𝒆𝒂𝒏
Cpk = Min ( , )
𝑲𝝈 𝑲𝝈
 Calculation of Cpk
• Net weight specification = 9.0 oz  0.5 oz

• USL=9.5 oz

• LSL=8.5 oz

• Process mean = 8.70 oz

• Process standard deviation = 0.15 oz

8.7−8.5
CPL = 3∗.15
= 0.4444

9.5−8.7
CPU= = 1.7777
3∗.15

Cpk = Min ( CPL,CPU)

= 0.4444

• Since Cpk <1 , therefore process is not capable at 3 sigma limits which is true. So Cpk gives actual
capability of process.
 Relation b/w Cp & Cpk

• The relationship between Cp and Cpk is given by :

Cpk = Cp (1-k)

• Where k is a measure of the deviation of the process mean from this target value m :

|m−μ|
k=
(USL−LSL)/2

• Generally we assume target value as (USL+LSL)/2 .

 If the process mean is at the target value m, then k = 0 and Cpk = Cp .

 If case process mean is not at the target and LSL ≤ μ ≤ USL , we observe that 0 ≤ K ≤ 1.

 If the process mean is at the USL or LSL, k = 1 and Cpk = 0.

 Comparison of Cp & Ck

• The Cpk value incorporates both the process mean and the standard deviation to measure actual
process performance whereas Cp incorporates only process standard deviation to measure potential
of process and does not change with change in process mean.

• Cp ≥1 is desirable A standard for benchmarking processes is a value of Cpk = 1, in which case

practically all the product is conforming.

• Cp is always greater than equal to Cpk .

• Cp is always positive wheras Cpk can be negative ( when the process mean is outside specification
limits).
 Cpm & Cpmk

• Taguchi (1985, 1986) stressed quality improvement by emphasizing the reduction in variability around a target
value, T.

• He purposed index Cpm which is defined as :

𝑈𝑆𝐿−𝐿𝑆𝐿 𝐶𝑝
Cpm = =
2𝐾 𝜎 2 + 𝜇−𝑇 2 1+𝛿2

𝜇−𝑇
where 𝛿 = 𝜎

• A third-generation capability index that incorporates the features of Cpk and Cpm is the Cpmk index (Pearn et al. 1992),
given by :

min( 𝑈𝑆𝐿−𝜇 ,(𝜇−𝐿𝑆𝐿)) 𝐶𝑝𝑘

Cpmk = =
𝐾 𝜎 2 + 𝜇−𝑇 2 1+𝛿2

• Cpmk takes into consideration process location and variability as well as deviation of the process mean from the target
value.
 Calculation of Cpm & Cpmk

For same question

Target value = 9

𝜇−𝑇
𝝳= 𝜎

8.7 −9
= 0.15
= -2

𝐶𝑝
Cpm =
1+𝛿 2

10
= 9∗ 5
= 0.496

𝐶𝑝𝑘
Cpmk =
1+𝛿2

0.444
= 5
= 0.198562
THANK YOU