SPC-Based Diagnosis of Processes with Multiple Concurrent Dysfunctional Steps

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This paper develops a statistical process control (SPC) approach to process diagnosis for scenarios in which multiple sub-processes can be concurrently dysfunctional. MDS (Multiple concurrent Dysfunctional Steps) is an extension of SDS (Single Dysfunctional Step), an SPC approach for scenarios in which only one step can be dysfunctional at any given time. The SDS framework was developed in Krishnamurthi et al. (1993) and analyzed in Melton et al (1997). Analysis shows the MDS approach does an excellent job diagnosing complex process disturbances as long as the monitored variables are limited to a “vital few.” The MDS approach integrates existing SPC knowledge into the field of process diagnosis and enables QC personnel to diagnose systems using SPC data that is already being collected for other purposes.