Capability studies, helpful tools in process quality improvement

Abstract

Ability of processes to meet customer’quality requirements has become essential for providing competitive advantages such as cost savings, reducing the number of nonconfoming products or increasing customer satisfaction. This paper aims to conduct a capability study for a swaging process (that ensures an assembly dimension) of a key product characteristic (the outer diameter of a new part), related to the concept of capability and performance indices and how these metrics can be used and interpreted to become powerful tools for decision making. To achieve the goal of the paper, the following key aspects were analyzed: capability of the measurement system capability (gage R&R), production equipment (machine) capability and process capability/performance during the first serial production. The analysis was performed with Minitab® 17, the most commonly used software for quality improvement.