Process Capability

PROCESS
CAPABILITY
Learning Objectives
❖ To define and explain Process Capability.
❖ To discuss how to measure process
capability.
❖ To classify different process capability
indices.
❖ To infer process capability study
complications.
❖ To discuss and explain Six Sigma
Capability.
2
✔ Process capability compares the process output with the
customer’s
specification.
✔ The purpose of a process capability study is to compare the

process specification to the process output and determine
statistically if the process can meet the customer’s
specification.
A capable process is:
✔ Stable and not changing

✔ Can fit within the customer’s specification with a little extra room
(usually 25%) to spare.
4
“
o
Capable AND Centered
When using process capability as a means for

measuring how well our process is producing
compared to the customer’s requirements, it is not
good enough to just make sure the process is
capable; it must also be fairly well-centered.
5
Measuring Process Capability
The primary measures of process capability used are the
process capability ratio, the process capability index, and the
Cpk.
Process Capability Ratio (Cr)
Describes what portion of the specification the process is
taking up. The Cr should be no greater than 75% for the process
to be considered
capable.
6
Process Capability Index (Cp)
The inverse of the capability ratio. The Cp
should be at least 1.33 for the process to be
considered capable.
Cpk
The capability measure preferred in most
industries because it indicates
whether it is capable and how well-centered the
process is.
7
Conducting a Process Capability Study
The steps for conducting a process capability study are:
▪ Preparing for the study.

▪ Determining the process output.
▪ Comparing the output to the spec.
▪ Taking action to improve the process.
A process capability study measures the capability of a specific piece of

equipment or a process under specific operating conditions.
❑ It is important to identify and record this information prior to the

beginning of the process capability study.
8
Step 1: Preparing for the Study
To prepare for the Study
Define the processing conditions.

Select a representative operator.
Assure sufficient raw materials are available.

Make sure the measurement system is reliable.
9
Step 2: Determining the Process Output
To determine the Process Output, run the process and collect data
as you
would if you were setting up a Control Chart.
✔ Make sure the process is stable using the same methods

as for setting up a control chart.
✔ Since common process capability calculations are based
on a stable, normally distributed process, if the process is
not stable, you should not conduct a process capability
study.
✔ Calculate the process mean and process variation for the
measured output.
10
Step 3: Comparing Process Output to
the Spec
A specification normally consists of the Nominal, or Ideal,
measure for the
product and tolerance, which is the amount of variation
acceptable to the
customer.
✔ The distance between the upper spec limit (USL) and

the lower spec limit (LSL) is called the total tolerance, or
T.T.
✔ The Cpk for a process is determined by calculating the

Cpu and the Cpl. The Cpk is the lower of those two
numbers.
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Step 4: Taking Action to Improve the Process
✔ There are a variety of activities that can be undertaken to

improvement
process such as 8D Problem Solving or Mistake-Proofing.
More Process Capability Indices
There are several different variations on Process Capability
Indices. They are Pp,
Ppk, Cpm, and Ppm.
Pp and Ppk are called Process

Performance Indicators.
✔ As their description implies, Pp and Ppk look at

what the performance
could be. Some people refer to them as short-term
capability indices
because they do not look at process variation over
time.
✔ Another use of the Process Performance Indicators
today is to get a look
at how the total variation from the process compares
to the specification.
Even special causes are included in the determination
of total variation.
13
For Pp and Ppk, the sample standard deviation, s,
is calculated directly from the data using:
1
For Cp and Cpk, s is calculated by
using R-bar/d2.
Typically, there will be less sources of

variation represented in a preliminary
process performance study than in a process
capability study so the preliminary Ppk
value is usually greater than the Cpk value
for a process.
2
Cpm is the process capability measured
against performance to a target.
✓ The Cpm capability ✓ The process is penalized for
index compares the width not running on-target. And
of the specification to the since the
spread of the process difference-from-target term
output plus an error term is squared in the calculation,
for how far the center of as the distance from the
the distribution is from target increases, the penalty
the target. increases dramatically.
3
✓ For a centered process that is on-target (that is, the
center of the specification is the target), Cp, Cpk,
and Cpm will be equal. When close to center, we
often find that the Cpk and Cpm values are similar.
But if the mean is more than one standard
deviation away from the target, then the three
indices will give us very different views of the
process capability.
4
“
Ppm is a process performance
index based on Cpm.
✓ Like Pp and Ppk, Ppm uses the
standard deviation equation, and
not subgroups, to calculate s.
5
Process Capability Study
Complications
✔
✔
✔
✔
✔
✔
✔ 1
Using Individual Data, not Subgroups
Handling One-Sided Tolerances
Handling Short-Run Processes
Dealing with Tool Wear Issues
Dealing with Skewed Distributions
Not Knowing What the Spec Should Be
Assessing True Position Capability
6
Six Sigma Capability
Six Sigma is a broad business approach to drive defects
produced by all processes down into parts per million levels
of performance.
✓ This means it is really about improving the process

capability for all critical-to-quality (CTQ) characteristics
from all processes in the organization.
✓ The goal in a Six Sigma organization is to achieve defect
levels of less than 3.4 parts per million for every process
in the organization and for every CTQ characteristic
produced by those processes.
7
Six Sigma has been accepted to mean a 4.5-sigma
process, not “true six sigma” process.
✓ A process that operates with “true six sigma” performance takes

up 50% of the specification if centered. This gives it a Cpk and
a Cp of 2.0. A process such as this will produce defects at a rate
of only ~2 parts per billion.
✓ Six Sigma professionals have allowed for the process to drift by

up to 1.5 standard deviations from the mean. So, if we have a
process with a Cp = 2.0 but allow for a 1.5s drift, then we have
the equivalent of a 4.5 sigma process. That is, the mean will be
4.5s from the specification limit at the edges of the drift. A 4.5
sigma process yields a 3.4 ppm defect level.
8
Instead of Cp and Cpk, some Six Sigma organizations report
capability in terms of Z-values.
✓ “
The Z-values represent the number of standard
deviation units the mean is away from the
specification limits.
✓ Zl is the distance from the mean to the lower

spec and Zu is the distance from the mean to
the upper spec.
✓ Zl equals 3 times Cpl and Zu equals 3 times

Cpu. For example, if the Cpl of a process was
1.5, the Zl would be 4.5. 9
“
THANK YOU!

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PROCESS

✔ The purpose of a process capability study is to compare the

✔ Stable and not changing

When using process capability as a means for

The steps for conducting a process capability study are:

▪ Preparing for the study.

A process capability study measures the capability of a specific piece of

❑ It is important to identify and record this information prior to the

Define the processing conditions.

Assure sufficient raw materials are available.

✔ Make sure the process is stable using the same methods

✔ The distance between the upper spec limit (USL) and

✔ The Cpk for a process is determined by calculating the

✔ There are a variety of activities that can be undertaken to

Pp and Ppk are called Process

✔ As their description implies, Pp and Ppk look at

Typically, there will be less sources of

✓ This means it is really about improving the process

✓ A process that operates with “true six sigma” performance takes

✓ Six Sigma professionals have allowed for the process to drift by

✓ Zl is the distance from the mean to the lower

✓ Zl equals 3 times Cpl and Zu equals 3 times

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