Effect of measurement error on exponentially weighted moving average control charts under ranked set sampling schemes

Control charts are a powerful statistical process monitoring tool often used to monitor the stability of manufacturing processes. In quality control applications, measurement errors adversely affect the performance of control charts. In this paper, we study the effect of measurement error on the detection abilities of the exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) control charts for monitoring process mean based on ranked set sampling (RSS), median RSS (MRSS), imperfect RSS (IRSS) and imperfect MRSS (IMRSS) schemes. We also study the effect of multiple measurements and non-constant error variance on the performances of the EWMA control charts. The EWMA control chart based on simple random sampling is compared with the EWMA control charts based on RSS, MRSS, IRSS and IMRSS schemes. The performances of the EWMA control charts are evaluated in terms of out-of-control average run length and standard deviation of run lengths. It turns out that the EWMA control charts based on MRSS and IMRSS schemes are better than their counterparts for all measurement error cases considered here.     

Ewma control chart under linear drift

An accurate numerical procedure is presented for computing the average run length (ARL) of an exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) chart under a linear drift in the process mean. The performance of an EWMA chart is then evaluated under a linear drift in the mean. In processes where gradual linear drifts rather than abrupt changes in the mean model the shifts in the mean more accurately, an evaluation of the performance of an EWMA chart under a linear drift is more appropriate. Tables of optimal smoothing parameters and control chart limits are given which make the design of EWMA charts easy.     

The Generally Weighted Moving Average Variance Chart

This article extends the generally weighted moving average (GWMA) technique for detecting changes in process variance. The proposed chart is called the generally weighted moving average variance (GWMAV) chart. Simulation is employed to evaluate the average run length (ARL) characteristics of the GWMAV and EWMA control charts. An extensive comparison of these control charts reveals that the GWMAV chart is more sensitive than the EWMA control charts for detecting small shifts in the variance of a process when the shifts are below 1.35 standard deviations. Additionally, the GWMAV control chart performs little better when the variance shifts are between 1.35 and 1.5 standard deviation, and the 2 charts performs similar when the variance shifts are above 1.5 standard deviation. The design of the GWMAV chart is also discussed.     

A mixed GWMA–CUSUM control chart for monitoring the process mean

The memory-type control charts are widely used in the process and service industries for monitoring the production processes. The reason is their sensitivity to quickly react against the small process disturbances. Recently, a new cumulative sum (CUSUM) chart has been proposed that uses the exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) statistic, called the EWMA–CUSUM chart. Similarly, in order to further enhance the sensitivity of the EWMA–CUSUM chart, we propose a new CUSUM chart using the generally weighted moving average (GWMA) statistic, called the GWMA–CUSUM chart, for efficiently monitoring the process mean. The GWMA–CUSUM chart encompasses the existing CUSUM and EWMA–CUSUM charts. Extensive Monte Carlo simulations are used to explore the run length profiles of the GWMA–CUSUM chart. Based on comprehensive run length comparisons, it turns out that the GWMA–CUSUM chart performs substantially better than the CUSUM, EWMA, GWMA, and EWMA–CUSUM charts when detecting small shifts in the process mean. An illustrative example is also presented to explain the implementation and working of the EWMA–CUSUM and GWMA–CUSUM charts.     

A new adaptive EWMA control chart using auxiliary information for monitoring the process mean

The adaptive memory-type control charts, including the adaptive exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) and cumulative sum (CUSUM) charts, have gained considerable attention because of their excellent speed in providing overall good detection over a range of mean shift sizes. In this paper, we propose a new adaptive EWMA (AEWMA) chart using the auxiliary information for efficiently monitoring the infrequent changes in the process mean. The idea is to first estimate the unknown process mean shift using an auxiliary information based mean estimator, and then adaptively update the smoothing constant of the EWMA chart. Using extensive Monte Carlo simulations, the run length profiles of the AEWMA chart are computed and explored. The AEWMA chart is compared with the existing control charts, including the classical EWMA, CUSUM, synthetic EWMA and synthetic CUSUM charts, in terms of the run length characteristics. It turns out that the AEWMA chart performs uniformly better than these control charts when detecting a range of mean shift sizes. An illustrative example is also presented to demonstrate the working and implementation of the proposed and existing control charts.     

A new nonparametric synthetic EWMA control chart for monitoring process mean

The exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) control charts are widely used in chemical and process industries because of their excellent speed in catching small to moderate shifts in the process target. In usual practice, many data come from a process where the monitoring statistic is non-normally distributed or it follows an unknown probability distribution. This necessitates the use of distribution-free/nonparametric control charts for monitoring the deviations from the process target. In this paper, we integrate the existing EWMA sign chart with the conforming run length chart to propose a new synthetic EWMA (SynEWMA) sign chart for monitoring the process mean. The SynEWMA sign chart encompasses the synthetic sign and EWMA sign charts. Monte Carlo simulations are used to compute the run length profiles of the SynEWMA sign chart. Based on a comprehensive comparison, it turns out that the SynEWMA sign chart is able to perform substantially better than the existing EWMA sign chart. Both real and simulated data sets are used to explain the working and implementation of existing and proposed control charts.     

Exponentially weighted moving average control charts for three-level products

In this paper, exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) control charts for multinomial data are developed with a three-level classification scheme. The lower and upper control limits of the proposed EWMA control chart are evaluated using Markov chain approximation. Compared with the three-level Shewhart control chart, numerical results indicate that the proposed EWMA control chart is relatively sensitive to small shifts in a three-level multinomial process. A figure and a table are provided for practitioners to select the value of chart limit coefficient that gives the desired in-control average run length.     

A New Adaptive Variable Sample Size Approach in EWMA Control Chart

Adaptive control charts have been developed for improving the capability of control charts in detecting small shifts. In this article, we propose a new exponential weighted moving average control chart with variable sample size, in which the sample size is determined as an integer linear function by EWMA statistic value. The performance of the proposed VSS EWMA control chart is compared with FSS EWMA as well as traditional VSS EWMA control charts. The results show the better performance of the proposed VSS strategy respect to the traditional one and fixed sample size.     

A EWMA control chart based on an auxiliary variable and repetitive sampling for monitoring process location

ABSTRACT

This article develops an exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) control chart using an auxiliary variable and repetitive sampling for efficient detection of small to moderate shifts in location. A EWMA statistic of a product estimator of the average (which utilities the information of auxiliary variables as well as repetitive sampling) is plotted on the proposed chart. The control chart coefficients of the proposed EWMA chart are determined for two strategic limits known as outer and inner control limits for the target in-control average run length. The performance of the proposed EWMA chart is studied using average run length when a shift occurs in the process average. The efficiency of the developed chart is compared with the competitive existing control charts. The results of the study revealed that proposed EWMA chart is more efficient than others to detect small changes in process mean.     

Generally weighted moving average control charts using repetitive sampling

Abstract

Generally weighted moving average (GWMA) control charts have been validated for effective detection of small process shifts, and perform better than exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) control charts. These charts are available based on single sampling; however, repetitive sampling charts have received less attention. Here, a GWMA control chart based on repetitive sampling (namely an RS-GWMA chart) is proposed for enhancing detectability of small process shifts. Simulations show that the proposed RS-GWMA chart with large design and small adjustment parameters outperforms existing hybrid EWMA (HEWMA) control charts based on repetitive sampling. An in-silico example is considered for demonstrating the applicability of the proposed RS-GWMA chart.     

Generally weighted moving average control charts with fast initial response features

The generally weighted moving average (GWMA) control chart is an extension model of exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) control chart. Recently, some approaches have been proposed to modify EWMA charts with fast initial response (FIR) features. We introduce these approaches in GWMA-type charts. Via simulation, various control schemes are designed and then their average run lengths are computed and compared. Based on the overall performance, it is showed that the DGWMA chart is the best choice especially when the shift is moderate, and the GWMA charts provided with additional FIR feature have a good performance only in detecting large shifts during the initial stage.     

An Improved Distribution-free EWMA Mean Chart

Control charts are effective tools for signal detection in both manufacturing processes and service processes. Much service data come from a process with variables having nonnormal or unknown distributions. The commonly used Shewhart variable control charts, which depend heavily on the normality assumption, should not be properly used here. In this article, we propose an improved asymmetric EWMA mean chart based on a simple statistic to monitor process mean shift. We explored the sampling properties of the new monitoring statistic and calculated the average run lengths of the proposed asymmetric EWMA mean chart. We recommend the proposed improved asymmetric EWMA mean chart because the average run lengths of the modified charts are more accurate and reasonable than those of the five existed mean charts. A numerical example of service times with a right skewed distribution from a service system of a bank branch is used to illustrate the application of the improved asymmetric EWMA mean chart and to compare it with the five existing mean charts. The proposed chart showed better detection performance than those of the five existing mean charts in monitoring and detecting shifts in the process mean.     

A new approach for monitoring process variance

ABSTRACT

Control charts are effective tools for signal detection in both manufacturing processes and service processes. Much service data come from a process with variables having non-normal or unknown distributions. The commonly used Shewhart variable control charts, which depend heavily on the normality assumption, should not be properly used in such circumstances. In this paper, we propose a new variance chart based on a simple statistic to monitor process variance shifts. We explore the sampling properties of the new monitoring statistic and calculate the average run lengths (ARLs) of the proposed variance chart. Furthermore, an arcsine transformed exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) chart is proposed because the ARLs of this modified chart are more intuitive and reasonable than those of the variance chart. We compare the out-of-control variance detection performance of the proposed variance chart with that of the non-parametric Mood variance (NP-M) chart with runs rules, developed by Zombade and Ghute [Nonparametric control chart for variability using runs rules. Experiment. 2014;24(4):1683–1691], and the nonparametric likelihood ratio-based distribution-free exponential weighted moving average (NLE) chart and the combination of traditional exponential weighted moving average (EWMA) mean and EWMA variance (CEW) control chart proposed by Zou and Tsung [Likelihood ratio-based distribution-free EWMA control charts. J Qual Technol. 2010;42(2):174–196] by considering cases in which the critical quality characteristic has a normal, a double exponential or a uniform distribution. Comparison results showed that the proposed chart performs better than the NP-M with runs rules, and the NLE and CEW control charts. A numerical example of service times with a right-skewed distribution from a service system of a bank branch in Taiwan is used to illustrate the application of the proposed variance chart and of the arcsine transformed EWMA chart and to compare them with three existing variance (or standard deviation) charts. The proposed charts show better detection performance than those three existing variance charts in monitoring and detecting shifts in the process variance.     

Non parametric double generally weighted moving average sign charts based on process proportion

Non parametric control charts have received increasing attention in the field of statistical process control. This paper presents a non parametric double generally weighted moving average (DGWMA) sign chart for monitoring small deviations when the quality characteristics of a process are unknown. The statistical performance of the non parametric DGWMA sign chart is evaluated and compared with those of other charts, including the exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA), generally weighted moving average (GWMA), and double EWMA (DEWMA) sign charts. Simulation studies indicate that the non parametric DGWMA sign chart with a large design and median adjustment parameters is always more sensitive than other charts in detecting small changes.     

Robustness to non-normality and autocorrelation of individuals control charts

This paper studies the effects of non-normality and autocorrelation on the performances of various individuals control charts for monitoring the process mean and/or variance. The traditional Shewhart X chart and moving range (MR) chart are investigated as well as several types of exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) charts and combinations of control charts involving these EWMA charts. It is shown that the combination of the X and MR charts will not detect small and moderate parameter shifts as fast as combinations involving the EWMA charts, and that the performana of the X and MR charts is very sensitive to the normality assumption. It is also shown that certain combinations of EWMA charts can be designed to be robust to non-normality and very effective at detecting small and moderate shifts in the process mean and/or variance. Although autocorrelation can have a significant effect on the in-control performances of these combinations of EWMA charts, their relative out-of-control performances under independence are generally maintained for low to moderate levels of autocorrelation.     

Control charts based on linear combinations of order statistics

The last 20 years have seen an increasing emphasis on statistical process control as a practical approach to reducing variability in industrial applications. Control charts are used to detect problems such as outliers or excess variability in subgroup means that may have a special cause. We describe an approach to the computation of control limits for exponentially weighted moving average control charts where the usual statistics in classical charts are replaced by linear combinations of order statistics; in particular, the trimmed mean and Gini's mean difference instead of the mean and range, respectively. Control limits are derived, and simulated average run length experiments show the trimmed control charts to be less influenced by extreme observations than their classical counterparts, and lead to tighter control limits. An example is given that illustrates the benefits of the proposed charts. parameters; see, for example, Hunter (1986) and Montgomery (1996). On the other hand, EWMA charts have been shown to be more efficient than Shewharttype charts in detecting small shifts in the process mean; see, for example, Ng & Case (1989), Crowder (1989), Lucas & Saccucci (1990), Amin & Searcy (1991) and Wetherill & Brown (1991). In fact, the EWMA control chart has become popular for monitoring a process mean; see Hunter (1986) for a good discussion. More recently, EWMA charts have been developed for monitoring process variability;     

An EWMA chart for monitoring process mean

In the statistical process control literature, there exists several improved quality control charts based on cost-effective sampling schemes, including the ranked set sampling (RSS) and median RSS (MRSS). A generalized cost-effective RSS scheme has been recently introduced for efficiently estimating the population mean, namely varied L RSS (VLRSS). In this article, we propose a new exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) control chart for monitoring the process mean using VLRSS, named the EWMA-VLRSS chart, under both perfect and imperfect rankings. The EWMA-VLRSS chart encompasses the existing EWMA charts based on RSS and MRSS (named the EWMA-RSS and EWMA-MRSS charts). We use extensive Monte Carlo simulations to compute the run length characteristics of the EWMA-VLRSS chart. The proposed chart is then compared with the existing EWMA charts. It is found that, with either perfect or imperfect rankings, the EWMA-VLRSS chart is more sensitive than the EWMA-RSS and EWMA-MRSS charts in detecting small to large shifts in the process mean. A real dataset is also used to explain the working of the EWMA-VLRSS chart.     

Robustness of the EWMA and the combined X¯–EWMA control charts with variable sampling intervals to non-normality

The exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) control charts with variable sampling intervals (VSIs) have been shown to be substantially quicker than the fixed sampling intervals (FSI) EWMA control charts in detecting process mean shifts. The usual assumption for designing a control chart is that the data or measurements are normally distributed. However, this assumption may not be true for some processes. In the present paper, the performances of the EWMA and combined X¯–EWMA control charts with VSIs are evaluated under non-normality. It is shown that adding the VSI feature to the EWMA control charts results in very substantial decreases in the expected time to detect shifts in process mean under both normality and non-normality. However, the combined X¯–EWMA chart has its false alarm rate and its detection ability is affected if the process data are not normally distributed.     

Control charts based on linear combinations of order statistics

The last 20 years have seen an increasing emphasis on statistical process control as a practical approach to reducing variability in industrial applications. Control charts are used to detect problems such as outliers or excess variability in subgroup means that may have a special cause. We describe an approach to the computation of control limits for exponentially weighted moving average control charts where the usual statistics in classical charts are replaced by linear combinations of order statistics; in particular, the trimmed mean and Gini's mean difference instead of the mean and range, respectively. Control limits are derived, and simulated average run length experiments show the trimmed control charts to be less influenced by extreme observations than their classical counterparts, and lead to tighter control limits. An example is given that illustrates the benefits of the proposed charts. parameters; see, for example, Hunter (1986) and Montgomery (1996). On the other hand, EWMA charts have been shown to be more efficient than Shewharttype charts in detecting small shifts in the process mean; see, for example, Ng & Case (1989), Crowder (1989), Lucas & Saccucci (1990), Amin & Searcy (1991) and Wetherill & Brown (1991). In fact, the EWMA control chart has become popular for monitoring a process mean; see Hunter (1986) for a good discussion. More recently, EWMA charts have been developed for monitoring process variability;     

Some issues in the design of EWMA Charts

The traditional design procedure for selecting the parameters of EWMA charts is based on the average run length (ARL). It is shown that for some types of EWMA charts, such a procedure may lead to high probability of a false out-of-control signal. An alternative procedure based on both the ARL and the standard deviation of run length (SRL) is recommended. It is shown that, with the new procedure, the EWMA chart using its exact variance can detect moderate and large shifts of the process mean faster.