A computer aided method to statistical process control of an industrial process in real time

A computer-aided statistical process control (SPC) method that provides several windows into the industrial process in real time is introduced. The windows help collect statistical information which can be used to find common and assignable causes of variation in product quality, to quantitatively measure process capability, and to show the presence of extraneous influences and the deterioration of certain equipment. In their experiments the authors introduced various types of problems into an industrial-grade process control system and used an SPC software tool to collect samples of the variables over time. These data were used to generate control charts for various process variables during run-time. The authors analyzed the control charts and were able to relate their characteristics to the problems that were originally introduced into the process.<>