Measuring Your Process Capability

Planning, Design & Analysis

Process capability is the long-term performance level of the process after it has been brought
under statistical control. It is the ability of the combination of your 5 M's to produce a product that
will consistently meet the design requirements and the customer expectation.

In this article, Dr. Nosh Kapadia explains: How to calculate Cp, Cpk, Cpl and Cpu indices, Why
should You know the Capability of Your and your supplier's Processes, The difference between
Capability indices and Process performance indices, The relation between Process capability and
defect rate and Some assumptions and precautions while calculating process capability indices.

Preamble:

This article is devoted to the topic of process capability, with the objective of making people
aware of this subject and its significance to business success.
The author believes that personal awareness is a prerequisite to personal action, and personal
action is what we need for success.

• It can be a source material for you to use in discussing this topic with your organization.

• It will address issues like what is process capability, how to measure it, and how to
calculate the process capability indices (Cp, Cpk).

• It will also attempt to explain the differences between process capability and process
performance; relationship between Cpk and non-conforming (defect) rate; and illustrate
the four outcomes of comparing natural process variability with customer specifications.

• Lastly a commentary is provided on precautions we should take while conducting process

capability studies.

What is Process Capability?

1. Process capability is the long-term performance level of the process after it has been
brought under statistical control. In other words, process capability is the range over which
the natural variation of the process occurs as determined by the system of common causes.
2. Process capability is also the ability of the combination of people, machine, methods,
material, and measurements to produce a product that will consistently meet the design
requirements or customer expectation.

What is a Process Capability Study?

Process capability study is a scientific and a systematic procedure that uses control charts to detect
and eliminate the unnatural causes of variation until a state of statistical control is reached. When
the study is completed, you will identify the natural variability of the process.

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Measuring Your Process Capability
Planning, Design & Analysis

Why Should I know the Capability of My Processes?

• Process capability measurements allow us to summarize process capability in terms of

meaningful percentages and metrics.

• To predict the extent to which the process will be able to hold tolerance or customer
requirements. Based on the law of probability, you can compute how often the process
will meet the specification or the expectation of your customer.

• You may learn that bringing your process under statistical control requires fundamental
changes - even redesigning and implementing a new process that eliminates the sources of
variability now at work.

• It helps you choose from among competing processes, the most appropriate one for
meeting customers' expectation.

• Knowing the capability of your processes, you can specify better the quality performance
requirements for new machines, parts and processes.

Why Should I know the Capability of My Supplier's Processes ?

1. To set realistic cost effective part specifications based upon the customer's needs and the
costs associated by the supplier at meeting those needs.

2. To understand hidden supplier costs. Suppliers may not know or hide their natural
capability limits in an effort to keep business. This could mean that unnecessary costs could
occur such as sorting to actually meet customer needs.

3. To be pro-active. For example, a Cpk estimation made using injection molding pressure
measurements during a molding cycle may help reveal a faulty piston pressure valve ready
to malfunction before the actual molded part measurements go out of specifications. Thus
saving time and money.

Measures of Process Capability - Process Capability Indices:

Cp, Cpl, Cpu, and Cpk are the four most common and timed tested measures of process capability.

• Process capability indices measure the degree to which your process produces output that
meets the customer's specification.

• Process capability indices can be used effectively to summarize process capability

information in a convenient unitless system.

• Cp and Cpk are quantitative expressions that personify the variability of your process (its
natural limits) relative to its specification limits (customer requirements).

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Measuring Your Process Capability
Planning, Design & Analysis

Following are the graphical details and equations quantifying process capability:

Where :

USL = Upper
Specification
Limit

LSL = Lower
Specification
Limit

X-Bar = Mean of
the Process

s = Standard
Deviation of the
Process

INDEX ESTIMATED EQUATION USAGE

Cp (USL - LSL) / 6s Process Capability for two - sided
specification limit, irrespective of process
center.
Cpu (USL - X-Bar) / 3s Process Capability relative to upper
specification limit.
Cpl (X-Bar - LSL) / 3s Process Capability relative to lower
specification limit.
Cpk Min. of (Cpu , Cpl ) or Process Capability for two - sided
Distance between mean of the specification limit accounting for process
process and the closest spec. limit / centering.
0.5 of the process variability.
Notes :

1. If X-Bar is at target, then Cp = Cpk.

2. Cpk will always be equal to or less than Cp.

The Cpk, Ppk Quandary :

In 1991, ASQ / AIAG task force published the "Statistical Process Control" reference manual, which
presented the calculations for capability indices ( Cp, Cpk ) as well as process performance indices
( Pp, Ppk ).

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Measuring Your Process Capability
Planning, Design & Analysis

The difference between the two indices is the way the process standard deviation ( s ) is
calculated.

Cpk uses s which is estimated using ( R-Bar / d2 ) or ( S-Bar / C2 ) .

Ppk uses the calculated standard deviation from individual data where s is calculated by the
formula :

So the next question is which metric is best to report Cpk or Ppk?

In other words, which standard deviation to use - estimated or calculated?

Although both indices show similar information, they have slightly different uses.

• Ppk attempts to answer the question "does my current production sample meet
specification?" Process performance indices should only be used when statistical control
cannot be evaluated.

• On the other hand, Cpk attempts to answer the question "does my process in the long run
meet specification?" Process capability evaluation can only be done after the process is
brought into statistical control. The reason is simple: Cpk is a prediction, and one can only
predict something that is stable.

The readers should note that Ppk and Cpk indices would likely be similar when the process is in a
state of statistical control.

Notes:

1. As a thumb rule a minimum of 50 randomly selected samples must be chosen for process
performance studies and a minimum of 20 subgroups (of sample size, preferably of at least
4 or 5) must be chosen for process capability studies.

2. Cpk for all critical product measurements considered important by the customer should be
calculated at the beginning of initial production to determine the general ability of the
process to meet customer specifications. Then from time to time, over the life of the
product, Cpks must be generated. A control chart must always be maintained to check
statistical stability of the process before capability is computed.

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Measuring Your Process Capability
Planning, Design & Analysis

Process Capability and Defect Rate :

Using process capability indices it is easy to forget how much of product is falling beyond
specification. The conversion curve presented here can be a useful tool for interpreting Cpk with
its corresponding defect levels. The defect levels or parts per million non-conforming were
computed for different Cpk values using the Z scores and the percentage area under the standard
normal curve using normal deviate tables.

The table below presents the non-conforming parts per million (ppm) for a process corresponding
to Cpk values if the process mean were at target.

Cpk Value Sigma Value Area under Normal Curve Non Conforming ppm

0.1 0.3 0.235822715 764177.2851

0.2 0.6 0.451493870 548506.1299
0.3 0.9 0.631879817 368120.1835
0.4 1.2 0.769860537 230139.4634
0.5 1.5 0.866385542 133614.4576
0.6 1.8 0.928139469 71860.531
0.7 2.1 0.964271285 35728.7148
0.8 2.4 0.983604942 16395.0577
0.9 2.7 0.993065954 6934.0461
1.0 3.0 0.997300066 2699.9344
1.1 3.3 0.999033035 966.9651
1.2 3.6 0.999681709 318.2914
1.3 3.9 0.999903769 96.231
1.333 3.999 0.999936360 63.6403
1.4 4.2 0.999973292 26.7082
1.5 4.5 0.999993198 6.8016
1.6 4.8 0.999998411 1.5887
1.666 4.998 0.999999420 0.5802
1.7 5.1 0.999999660 0.3402
1.8 5.4 0.999999933 0.0668
1.9 5.7 0.999999988 0.012
2.0 6.0 0.999999998 0.002

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Measuring Your Process Capability
Planning, Design & Analysis

The Cpk conversion curve for process with mean at target is shown next.

Explanation: A process with Cpk of 2.0 (+/- 6 sigma capability), i.e., the process mean is 6 sigma
away from the nearest specification can be expected to have no more than 0.002 nonconforming
parts per million.

This process is so good that even if the process mean shifts by as much as +/- 1.5 sigma the process
will produce no more than 3.4 non-conforming parts per million.

The next section provides the reader with some practical clarifications on Process Capability (Voice of the
process) and Specification (Expectations of the customer).

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Measuring Your Process Capability
Planning, Design & Analysis

Natural Variability versus Specifications for Process Capability:

As seen from the earlier discussions, there are three components of process capability:

1. Design specification or customer expectation (Upper Specification Limit, Lower

Specification Limit)

2. The centering of the natural process variation (X-Bar)

3. Spread of the process variation (s)

A minimum of four possible outcomes can arise when the natural process variability is compared
with the design specifications or customer expectations:

Case 1: Cpk > 1.33 (A Highly Capable Process)

This process should produce less than 64 non-conforming ppm

A Highly Capable Process: Voice of the Process < Specification ( or Customer Expectations ).

This process will produce conforming products as long as it remains in statistical control. The
process owner can claim that the customer should experience least difficulty and greater
reliability with this product. This should translate into higher profits.

Note: Cpk values of 1.33 or greater are considered to be industry benchmarks. This means that the
process is contained within four standard deviations of the process specifications.

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Measuring Your Process Capability
Planning, Design & Analysis

Case 2: Cpk = 1 to 1.33 (A Barely Capable Process)

This process will produce greater than 64 ppm but less than 2700 non-conforming ppm.

This process has a spread just about equal to specification width. It should be noted that if the
process mean moves to the left or the right, a significant portion of product will start falling
outside one of the specification limits. This process must be closely monitored.

A Barely Capable Process: Voice of the Process = Customer Expectations

Note: This process is contained within three to four standard deviations of the process
specifications.

Freeware Process Capability Calculator from Symphony Technologies

• Calculates Potential Process Capability indices, Cp and Cpk

• Calculates Overall Process Capability indices, Pp and Ppk
• Calculates Potential, Overall and Actual PPM levels
• Plots a Histogram of Raw Data
• Plots a Normal Probability Plot of Raw Data
• Anderson-Darling Normality test with user-defined p value
• Normality statistic: Skewness and Kurtosis

Download from http://www.symphonytech.com/freeware.htm

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Measuring Your Process Capability
Planning, Design & Analysis

Case 3: Cpk < 1 (The Process is not Capable)

This process will produce more than 2700 non-conforming ppm.

A Non-Capable Process: Voice of the Process > Customer Expectations.

It is impossible for the current process to meet specifications even when it is in statistical control.
If the specifications are realistic, an effort must be immediately made to improve the process (i.e.
reduce variation) to the point where it is capable of producing consistently within specifications.

Case 4: Cpk < 1 ( The Process is not Capable )

This process will also produce more than 2700 non-conforming ppm.

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Measuring Your Process Capability
Planning, Design & Analysis

The variability (s) and specification width is assumed to be the same as in case 2, but the process
average is off-center. In such cases, adjustment is required to move the process mean back to
target. If no action is taken, a substantial portion of the output will fall outside the specification
limit even though the process might be in statistical control.

Assumptions, Conditions and Precautions :

Capability indices described here strive to represent with a single number the capability of a
process. Much has been written in the literature about the pitfalls of these estimates.
Following are some of the precautions the readers should exercise while calculating and
interpreting process capability:

1. The indices for process capability discussed are based on the assumption that the
underlying process distribution is approximately bell shaded or normal. Yet in some
situations the underlying process distribution may not be normal. For example, flatness,
pull strength, waiting time, etc., might natually follow a skewed distribution. For these
cases, calculating Cpk the usual way might be misleading. Many researchers have
contributed to this problem. Readers are requested to refer to John Clements article titled
"Process Capability Calculations for Non-Normal Distributions" for details.

2. The process / parameter in question must be in statistical control. It is this author's

experience that there is tendency to want to know the capability of the process before
statistical control is established. The presence of special causes of variation make the
prediction of process capability difficult and the meaning of Cpk unclear.

3. The data chosen for process capability study should attempt to encompass all natural
variations.
For example, one supplier might report a very good process capability value using only ten
samples produced on one day, while another supplier of the same commodity might
report a somewhat lesser process capability number using data from longer period of time
that more closely represent the process. If one were to compare these process index
numbers when choosing a supplier, the best supplier might not be chosen.

4. The number of samples used has a significant influence on the accuracy of the Cpk
estimate.

For example, for a random sample of size n = 100 drawn from a know normal population of
Cpk = 1, the Cpk estimate can vary from 0.85 to 1.15 ( with 95 % confidence ). Therefore
smaller samples will result in even larger variations of the Cpk statistics. In other words, the
practitioner must take into consideration the sampling variation's influence on the computed
Cpk number. Please refer to Bissell and Chou, Owen, and Borrego for more on this subject.

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Measuring Your Process Capability
Planning, Design & Analysis

Concluding Thoughts:

In the real world, very few processes completely satisfy all the conditions and assumptions
required for estimating Cpk. Also, statistical debates in research communities are still raging on
the strengths and weaknesses of various capability and performance indices. Many new
complicated capability indices have also been invented and cited in literature. However, the key
to effectual use of process capability measures continues to be the level of user understanding of
what these measures really represent. Finally, in order to achieve continuous improvement, one
must always attempt to refine the "Voice of the Process" to match and then to surpass the
"Expectations of the Customer".

References:

1. Victor Kane, "Process Capability Indices", Journal of Quality Technology, Jan 1986.
2. ASQ / AIAG, "Statistical Process Control", Reference Manual, 1995.
3. John Clements, "Process Capability Calculations for Non-Normal Distributions", Quality
Progress, Sept 1989.
4. Forrest Breyfogle, "Measurement of Process Capability", Smarter Solutions, 1996.
5. Bissell, "How Reliable is Your Capability Index", Royal Statistical Society, 1990.
6. Chou, Owen, and Borrego, "Lower Confidence Limits of Process Capability Indices",
Journal of Quality Technology, Vol 22, No. 3, July 1990.

Author:
Dr. Mehernosh Kapadia has a Master's Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Penn State University, USA and MBA
from NTU, USA. He is a Six-Sigma Master Black Belt and an ASQ certified CQE & CRE. He obtained his Doctorate from The
University of Bombay.

He can be contacted through us at e-mail address: mailto:[email protected]

Symphony Technologies software solutions in Quality Technology

• Measurement Systems Analysis

• Failure Mode & Effects Analysis
• Statistical Process Control
• SPC Training through Simulation
• Geometric Dimensioning & Tolerancing

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Measuring Your Process Capability
Planning, Design & Analysis

Process Capability Calculators from Symphony Technologies

Freeware Process Capability Calculator

• Calculates Potential Process Capability indices, Cp and Cpk

• Calculates Overall Process Capability indices, Pp and Ppk
• Calculates Potential, Overall and Actual PPM levels
• Plots a Histogram of Raw Data
• Plots a Normal Probability Plot of Raw Data
• Anderson-Darling Normality test with user-defined p value
• Normality statistic: Skewness and Kurtosis

Non-Normal Process Capability Evaluator

Process capability evaluation done the traditional way, is based on an assumption that the data is Normally distributed.
However, there are processes, which are inherently non-normal, and using assumptions of normality can lead to
erroneous evaluation and wrong decisions. In such cases, the evaluation of Process Capability requires special
techniques. Recognizing this, the recently updated SPC manual of AIAG (2nd Edition, July 2005) recommends the use of
Non-normal process capability evaluation techniques to deal with such data.

Symphony’s Non-Normal Process Capability Evaluator, enables you evaluate non-normal process capability using:
• Box-Cox power Transformation
• Johnson Transformation system
• Clements Method using Pearson Curves

Box-Cox Transformation:
The Box-Cox transformation is used for transforming non-normal data. The Box-Cox Transformation uses the parameter
Lambda. Non-Normal Process Capability Evaluator automatically selects the value of lambda so that the best possible
transformation is done and data transforms as closely as possible to normality. Process Capability evaluation is done on
the transformed data.

Johnson Transformation:
Johnson transformation internally evaluates several transform functions and optimally selects one from three families
of distributions, which transform the data into a normal distribution. These distributions are bounded, lognormal, and
unbounded (SB, SL & SU). Non-Normal Process Capability Evaluator selects the transform function such that the
transformed data comes closest to Normality. Process Capability evaluation is done on the transformed data.

Clement's Method using Pearson Curves:

Clements’ method estimates capability indices based on evaluation of the skewness and kurtosis of the data. The
method estimates percentiles and medians of the process distribution to define percentile based performance indices.
Clements (1989) proposed this method of determining percentiles based on Pearson family of distribution.

Symphony’s Non-Normal Process Capability Evaluator is easy to use and gives a intuitive user experience. It enables you
perform Process Capability analysis on Non-Normal processes without undue Math Anxiety.

Download Evaluation Copy from http://www.symphonytech.com/nnpc.com

Additional Reading: Process Capability Evaluation - Looking beyond the obvious

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Planning, Design & Analysis

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