Statistics Roundtable: Drudgery to Strategy - a Statistical Metamorphosis
Think back to your Stats 101 course. You entered the first session laden with apprehension— induced by survivors’ horror stories—and your worst fears were confirmed....
Statistics Roundtable: Care and Feeding of Checkweighers
Many years ago, during a tour of a production facility where packages of customer goods were being filled, a statistician colleague and I stood transfixed by an end-of-line checkweigher....
Statistics Roundtable: A Preference for Parity?
You rarely hear coaches encourage their teams to get out there and tie. So why do banks, restaurants, consumer goods companies and others try so hard to match their competition?...
Statistics Roundtable: It's Not Always What You Say, But How You Say It
The Youden plot has proven extremely useful in the analysis and interpretation of data generated by interlaboratory studies. It’s always easy to understand and motivates others to take action if...
10 Quality Basics
In an overview designed to give quality newcomers a glimpse of the knowledge they need to succeed, ten regular Quality Progress contributors write on 10 basic quality topics that are fundamentals essential to surviving in a quality role. Topics covered...
Statistics Roundtable: The Ubiquitous Cpk
A colleague and I were discussing his long-term role at his company. He explained he was in charge of maintaining the computer banks of key process indicators KPIs), Cp, Cpk and so on....
Statistics Roundtable: The Hidden Laboratory
Ralph is a research scientist with 20 years of experience. Most of the products he developed have gone by the wayside. That doesn't frustrate Ralph. What frustrates him is the increased pressure to churn out new products in record time....
Statistics Roundtable: Play It Again, Sam
People who know a lot about old movies say Humphrey Bogart, who played Rick Blaine in Casablanca, never really said, "Play it again, Sam" to Dooley Wilson, who played Sam. But the saying continues to stick....
Uncertainty
The thing about uncertainty is you just never know. Almost 30 years ago, the local chapter of the Institute of Food Technologists invited me, a statistician of all people, to speak at its annual guest night dinner....
Salami Slicing
Stop me if you've heard this before. No, don't. Many hear; few listen....
Column: Statistics Roundtable: n (How many samples do you need to take?)
When tomato sauce is suspected of having accidental onion inclusions, how many samples are needed to find out if it's true? And how many samples are needed to find out how much onion got...
SPC: From Chaos to Wiping the Floor
Physicist Walter Shewhart, in tackling the problem of process control, began with the definition of control and went on to distinguish chance causes from assignable causes of variation. He believed that assignable causes could be found and eliminated....
Chapter one, on the scientific method
Though the scientific method is fundamental to science and business, it is often misused, overlooked or abandoned
For example, on manufacturing lines there is an almost overwhelming temptation to adjust processes via the turn of a dial, process understanding and Q U A L I T Y P R O G R E S S I A U G U S T 2 0 0 2 I 77 Chapter One Though the scientific method is fund...
Column: Statistics Roundtable: Chapter One
Articulated by Francis Bacon, the 17th century English philosopher, the scientific method teaches the use of observation followed by deductive reasoning to reach conclusions. Inductive reasoning is then used to proceed from repeated observations to the...
Column: Statistics Roundtable: Chicken Soup for Processes
Understanding process variation is a prerequisite to using SPC
SPC can help hold onto gains once they are attained by being used for Shewhart's originally intended purpose -- to detect the entry of assignable cause variation....
You don't have to be awful to be a statistician, but it helps.
Using experimental design to perfect products and processes
One strategy might be to examine combinations of ingredients in a two- level factorial design as seen in Table 1. A statistical thinking practitioner, however, would look at the entire process and wonder if a screening design of the various ingredients, ...
Burn the Brownies
Effective experimental design through statistical thinking.
92 I Q U A L I T Y P R O G R E S S I A U G U S T 1 9 9 9 Burn the Brownies Effective experimental design through statistical thinking by Lynne B. Hare Statistics Roundtable High amount of chocolate Strength of chocolate flavor Temperature Regular High Re...
How to Teach Others to Apply Statistical Thinking
An interactive session on statistical thinking involved realistic scenarios worked on by teams of conference attendees and a panel of experts. Unlike statistical methods, statistical thinking is a learning and action philosophy. It is based on...
The Role of Statistical Thinking in Management
Managers, as well as statisticians, can employ process thinking, an understanding of variation, and data analysis. This mindset of statistical thinking has four requirements. First, managers must know why statistical knowledge is important. For...
