Document Type
Article
Publication Date
4-2016
Abstract
Statistical process control (SPC) charts are widely used in industry for monitoring the stability of certain sequential processes like manufacturing, health care systems etc. Most SPC charts assume that the parametric form of the “in-control” process distribution F1 is available. However, it has been demonstrated in the literature that their performances are unreliable when the pre-specified process distribution is incorrect. Moreover, most SPC charts are designed to detect any shift in mean and/or variance. In real world problems, shifts in higher moments can happen without much change in mean or variance. If we fail to detect those and let the process run, it can eventually become worse and a shift in mean or variance can creep in. Moreover, the special cause that initiated the shift can inflict further damage to the system, and it may become a financial challenge to fix it. This paper provides an efficient and easy-to-use control chart for Phase II monitoring of univariate continuous processes when the parametric form of the “in-control” process distribution is unknown, but Phase I observations that are believed to be i.i.d. realizations from unknown F1 are available. Data-driven practical guidelines are also provided to choose the tuning parameter and the corresponding control limit of the proposed SPC chart. Numerical simulations and a real-life data analysis show that it can be used in many practical applications.
Copyright Statement
This is an author-produced, peer-reviewed version of this article. The final, definitive version of this document can be found online at Statistical Papers, published by Springer. Copyright restrictions may apply. The final publication is available at doi: 10.1007/s00362-015-0668-0
Publication Information
Mukherjee, Partha Sarathi. (2016). "On Phase II Monitoring of the Probability Distributions of Univariate Continuous Processes". Statistical Papers, 57(2), 539-562. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00362-015-0668-0