Stability assessment and process capability analysis in a food pasta company

Abstract

Statistical quality control is a set of tools and techniques that allows to verify, monitor and control the variability of processes to improve product quality and business competitiveness. The objective of this study was to evaluate the pasta production process of a company that belongs to the food industry sector in terms of stability and compliance of quality specifications. The Six Sigma improvement methodology was used, which focuses on identifying and eliminating the causes of variation in the processes. Data collection was accomplished by the use of different techniques, such as: interviews, brainstorming, review of documents, teamwork and direct observation. In addition, process documentation techniques and classical quality tools including Pareto chart, control charts, process capability analysis, histogram, Ishikawa diagram and experimental design were used. Multivariate data reduction techniques were also applied. The results showed for the quality characteristic Humidity that the process is out of statistical control and it is uncapable to meet the required specifications, for which the causes were investigated and improvement actions were proposed, achieving an increase in the sigma quality level.