The variable sample size variable dimension T2 control chart

Abstract

In this paper, we describe the development of the variable dimension and variable sample size T2 control chart (VSSVDT2), which is an enhancement of the variable dimension T2 chart (VDT2). In the VDT2 control chart, the number of variables that are measured to compute the T2 statistic is made variable. Some of the variables are easy or inexpensive to measure and are always monitored. The variables that are more difficult or expensive to measure are measured only when the T2 value from the previous sample exceeds a specified threshold. The VDT2 control chart performs well for moderate and large shifts in the mean vector. However, its performance for small shifts is poor. To improve the chart’s performance in detecting such shifts, we propose the application of the variable sample size technique to the VDT2 control chart, resulting in the VSSVDT2 control chart. To promote the use of the VSSVDT2 chart, a user-friendly software has been developed, which the final user can use to find the best parameters of the VSSVDT2 chart for a particular process.