Process Capability (Cp & Cpk)

Cp and Cpk are considered short-term potential capability measures for a

process. In Six Sigma we want to describe processes quality in terms of
sigma because this gives us an easy way to talk about how capable different
processes are using a common mathematical framework. In other words, it
allows us to compare apple processes to orange processes!

Process Capability
This is a long article, but I thought it was important to keep Cp and Cpk
together. Cpk is addressed first, then Cp. There are also crib notes on what
the equations mean in a real performance sense, what you should be able to
tell about a process depending on Cp and Cpk values and more. If you are not
finding what you are looking for, please let me know in the notes below.

What is the Difference between Cp,

Cpk and Pp, PPk?

Cp Cpk vs Pp Ppk

Cp and Cpk are called Process Capability. Pp and Ppk are called Process
Performance. In both cases we want to try to verify if the process can meet to
meet Customer CTQs (requirements).

Cp, and Cpk are used for Process Capability. Generally you use this when a
process is under statistical control. This often happens with a mature process
that has been around for a while. Process capability uses the process sigma
value determined from either the Moving Range, Range or Sigma control
charts
Pp and PPk are used for Process Performance. Generally you use this when
a process is too new to determine if it is under statistical control. Ex. there is a
short pre-production run or you are piloting a new process. Because there is
not a lot of historical data we take large samples from the process to account
for variation. Process Performance generally uses sample sigma in its
calculation.

In theory Cpk will always be greater than or equal to Ppk. There are
anomalies seen when the sample size is small and the data represents a
short amount of time where estimating using R will overstate standard
deviation and make Cpk smaller than Ppk. It is not real, there can never be
less variation in the long term since the long term is using all of the data not
just two pieces of data from every subgroup.

Evaluating process capability with Cp & Cpk mirror what is done (and why it is
done) when following the Pp & Ppk approach. The main difference is that you
use Cp & Cpk after a process has reached stability or statistical control.

Cp vs Cpk
The k stands for centralizing factor. The index takes into consideration the
fact that your data is maybe not centered.

Cpk vs Ppk
Cpk tells us what a process is capable of doing in future, assuming it remains in
a state of statistical control.

Ppk tells us how a process has performed in the past and you cannot use it
predict the future because the process is not in a state of control.

If a process is in statistical control;

The values for Cpk and Ppk will converge to almost the same value
because sigma and the sample standard deviation will be identical (use an F
test to determine).
In other words, if Cpk == Ppk, the process is likely in statistical control.

If a process is NOT in statistical control;

Cpk and Ppk values will be distinctly different, perhaps by a very wide margin.

What is the Difference Between Cp and

Cpk?
Cp and Cpk measure how consistent you are to around your average
performance.

The Shooting at a Target Analogy

A good analogy is shooting at a target. If the rounds form a good cluster or
grouping in the same spot anywhere on the target you have a high Cp value.
When the you have a tight group of shots is landing on the bulls eye, you now
have a high Cpk

Cpk measures how close you are to your target and how consistent you are to
around your average performance. A person may be performing with
minimum variation, but he can be away from his target towards one of the
specification limit, which indicates lower Cpk, whereas Cp will be high. On the
other hand, a person may be on average exactly at the target, but the
variation in performance is high (but still lower than the tolerance band (i.e.,
specification interval). In such case also Cpk will be lower, but Cp will be
high. Cpk will be higher only when you r meeting the target consistently with
minimum variation
What is Cpk?
The Parking a Car in the Garage Analogy
If you think of the walls of your garage where you have to fit your car in
they become the customer specification limits. If you go past those limits, you
will crash, and the customer will not be happy!

If your process has a lot of variation, that means the process average is all
over the place. Not good for parking a car, and not good for any other
process. To give your parking process the best chance of success you should
work on reducing variation and centering.

If the car is too wide for the garage, nothing you do to center the process will
help. You have to change the dispersion of the process (make the car
smaller.)

If the car is a lot smaller than the garage, it doesnt matter if you park it exactly
in the middle; it will fit and you have plenty of room on either side. Thats one
of the reasons the six sigma philosophy focuses on removing variation in a
process.

If you have a process that is in control and with little variation, you should be
able to park the car easily within the garage and thus meet customer
requirements. Cpk tells you the relationship between the size of the car, the
size of the garage and how far away from the middle of the garage you parked
the car.

How to Calculate Cpk

Cpk is a measure to show how many standard deviations the specification
limits are from the center of the process. On some processes you can do this
visually. Others require an equation.

To find Cpk you need to calculate a Z score for the upper specification limit
(called Z USL) and a Z score for the lower specification limit (called Z LSL).
Since we are trying to measure how many standard deviations fit between the
center line and thespecification limit you should not be surprised that the value
of those limits, the process mean, and the standard deviation are all
components of the Z calculation.

Cp is an abbreviation. There are really two parts; the upper and the lower
denoted Cpu and Cpl respectively. Their equations are:

Cpl = (Process Mean LSL)/(3*Standard Deviation)

Cpu = (USL Process Mean)/(3*Standard Deviation)

Cpk is merely the smallest value of the Cpl or Cpu denoted: Cpk= Min (Cpl, Cpu)

Why are we dividing by 3 to find Cpk?

We know that any specification limit has an upper bound and a lower bound.
Because you know that 6 sigmas or 6 standard deviations account for nearly
all eventualities on a process (assuming normal distribution) you shouldnt be
surprised to see the / 3 because we are looking at only one side of the
distribution.

Calculating Cpk using a Z Value

If you have a Z value, the equation is very easy;

Cpk can be determined by dividing the Z score by three.

A z score is the same as a standard score; the number of standard deviations

above the mean.

Z = x mean of the population / standard deviation.

Notes and Characteristics of Cpk
Cpk and Centered Processes
If a process is perfectly centered, it has a Cp of 1. That would indicate that
mean was 3 standard deviations away from the upper limit and the lower limit.

A perfectly centered process a process who has a mean exactly in between

the 2 specification limits (meaning halfway between the two will have a Cpk of
1. How is this possible? Lets check the math.

If a process is perfectly centered, then we know that the (USL Process

mean) equals the same thing as the (Process Mean LSL). Lets call that A.

Z USL = USL Process Mean / Standard Deviation. then becomes Z USL =

A/ Standard Deviation

and

Z LSL = Process Mean LSL / Standard Deviation then becomes Z LSL = A /

Standard Deviation.

The exact same thing.

Notes on Cpk
Cpk measures how close a process is performing compared to its
specification limits and accounting for the natural variability of the
process.
Larger is better. The larger Cpk is, the less likely it is that any item will
be outside the specification limits.
When Cpk is negative it means that a process will produce output that is
outside the customer specification limits.
When the mean of the process is outside the customer specification
limits the value of Cpk will be Negative
We generally want a Cpk of at least 1.33 [4 sigma] or higher to satisfy
most customers.
Cpk can have an upper and lower value reported.
 If the upper value is 2 and the lower is 1, we say it has been
shifted to the left.
This tells us nothing about if the process is stable or not.
We must report the lower of the 2 values.

What are Good Values for Cpk?

Remember the Car parking in the garage analogy?

Cpk = Negative number: Your process will regularly crash the car into the wall.

Cpk =0.5: You have a good chance hitting the wall on entry.

Cpk =1: Your car may be just touching the nearest edge of the entry.

Cpk =2: Great! You have great clearance. You could double the width of your
car before you hit the side of the garage.

Cpk =3: Excellent! You have excellent clearance. You could triple the width of
your car before you hit the side of the garage.

Cpk Videos
Great, clear, concise video on this subject.

If you were producing a Cpk equal to 1, than you could expect to produce at
least 99.73% good parts.

How to Calculate Cp
Just as you use Cp & Cpk when a process is stable and Pp & Ppk when a
process is new, the way you calculate each are a bit different, too.

Lets revisit Pp
Pp = (USL LSL) / 6* s

In Pp, s is the standard deviation, or the fatness or dispersion of the bell

curve.

In Cp, we replace s with and estimate of we call r. To do that we leverage

the Moving Range concept from a Moving R Bar chart or an XMR Chart. So,
r = [ R Bar / d2]

R Bar comes from the Moving range.

D2 reflects values derived from integrating the area under the normal curve.
We often use a table which gives a d2 value based on how many subgroups
were in the sample.

d2 subgroup values

Cp does not account for centering.

Cp = (USL LSL) / ( 6* r )

Cp = (USL LSL) / ( 6* R Bar / d2 )

Cp for Process Mean close to USL

If your Process Mean (central tendency) is closer to the USL, use: [ USL
x(bar) ] / [3 * R Bar / d2], where x(bar) is the Process Mean.

Cp for Process Mean close to LSL

If your Process Mean (central tendency) is closer to the LSL, use: [x(bar)
LSL ] / [3 * R Bar / d2], where x(bar) is the Process Mean.
Capability Index
How do Cp, Z values, DPMO , Specification Limits, Standard Deviation, and
Capability all relate?

Also see Z values and process capability.

Capability Index

Notes on Cp Values
If the ratio is greater than one, then the Engineering Tolerance is greater
than the Process Spread so the process has the potential to be
capable (depending on process centering).
If, however, the Process Spread is greater than the Engineering
tolerance, then the process variation will not fit within the tolerance and
the process will not be capable (even if the process is centered
appropriately).
Capability Ratio Cr
The capability ration is the inverse of Cp

Cr = 1/ Cp = ( 6* r ) / (USL LSL)

If Cr < 0.75, the process is capable.

If Cr = 0.75 1.00, the process is capable with tight control.

If Cr >1, the process is not capable.

Notes on Relating Cp And Cpk

If Cp == Cpk, then the process is perfectly centered. If perfectly
centered, Cp == Cpk.
Because Cpk accounts for centering (where Cp does not), Cpk can
never be larger than Cp.
Both assume a stable process.