CONTENTS

Statistical Process Control (SPC) is widely applied in the parts manufacturing industries. Although the technique has been practised at various levels for more than 30 years, it warrants mention. In response to current total quality initiatives SPC has only just recently begun to be implemented in the process industries. SPC makes use of statistical models and procedures that to improve product quality and process productivity at reduced costs [Wetherill and Brown, 1991]. The objective is to bring and keep processes in a state where any remaining variations are those inherent to the process.

4.1. Conventional SPC

SPC has been traditionally achieved by successive plotting and comparing a statistical measure of the variable with some user defined 'control' limits. If the plotted statistic exceeds these limits, the process is considered to be out of statistical control. Corrective action is then applied in the form of identification, elimination or compensation for the 'assignable' causes of variation. The most common charts used are the Shewhart, Exponential Moving Average (EWMA), range and Cumulative Sum (CuSum) charts. (more)

4.2. Algorithmic SPC

Conventional SPC is basically an off-line technique. Whilst there are many reports of succesful cases in the parts manufacturing sector, this 'passive' control strategy does not suit continuous systems. Here, in addition to keeping products within specifications, there is a requirement to keep the process operating. Depending on the complexity of the process, the time taken to identify, eliminate and compensate for assignable causes of variation may not be acceptable. Nevertheless, the aim of both automatic process control and SPC is to increase plant profitability. Thus, it is reasonable to expect that the merger of these two apparently dichotomous methodologies could yield strategies that inherit the benefits associated with the parent approaches. This has been a subject of recent investigations [MacGregor, 1988; Tucker, 1989] where SPC is used to monitor the performances of automatic control loops. Such a strategy is sometimes called 'Algorithmic SPC' (ASPC), referring to the integrated use of algorithmic model based controllers and SPC techniques. Note, though, that the process is still being controlled by an automatic controller, that is the process is being controlled all the time.

4.3. Active SPC

Another way to integrate the two control approaches is to provide on-line SPC. Statistical models are used not only to define control limits, but also to develop control laws that suggest the degree of manipulation to maintain the process under statistical control. Thus, in applications to continuous processes, the need for an algorithmic automatic controller is avoided, leading to a direct or 'active' SPC strategy [Efthimiadu and Tham 1990, 1991; Efthimiadu et al, 1993]. Indeed, the technique is designed specifically for continuous systems. In contrast to ASPC, manipulations are made only when necessary, as indicated by detecting violation of control limits. As a result, compared to automatic control and ASPC, savings in the use of raw materials and utilities can be achieved using active SPC.