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Creating Control Charts Using Microsoft Excel

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21 views

Creating Control Charts Using Microsoft Excel

Uploaded by

muyiwa07
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Creating Control Charts Using Microsoft Excel

Creating a control chart is not difficult.

1. Begin by creating an Excel spreadsheet with four columns. Label the columns “Data,”
“Mean,” “UCL,” and “LCL.”
2. Enter data in successive rows in the “Data” column. Leave one blank row for clarity.
In the cell below the “Data” column, enter a formula that will calculate the average of
the data values. The formula to enter is “=AVERAGE(A2:A21)” where “A2” is the
first cell that contains data and “A21” is the last cell that contains data. Adjust the
formula to identify all cells used by your data. When you click “Enter,” the average
value will appear in the cell.
3. Enter the average value in the first cell of the “Mean” column. Enter the value by
typing it in the cell; do not try to copy the value into the cell. Then, copy the average
value to all cells in the column. Do this by highlighting the first cell (place the cursor
over it and left-click), then move the cursor to the lower right corner of the cell so that
the cursor changes to a “+” sign. Hold down the left mouse button and drag the cell
down to the last row in the column. This copies the value into all the cells.
4. In the cell below the “UCL” column in the same row as the “average” cell, enter a
formula that will calculate the upper control limit value. The formula to enter is
“=[enter the address of the cell that contains the average formula, for example
A:23]+3*STDEV(A2:A21)” )” where “A2 is the first cell that contains data and
“A21” is the last cell that contains data. Adjust the formula to identify all cells used
by your data. When you click “Enter,” the upper control limit value will appear in the
cell.
5. Enter the upper control limit value in the first cell of the “UCL” column. Enter the
value and copy it to the other cells in the column in the same way that you entered the
average value in the “Mean” column.
6. In the cell below the “LCL” column in the same row as the “average” cell, enter a
formula that will calculate the lower control limit value. The formula to enter is
“=[enter the address of the cell that contains the average formula, for example A:23]-
3*STDEV(A2:A21)” )” where “A2 is the first cell that contains data and “A21” is the
last cell that contains data. Adjust the formula to identify all cells used by your data.
When you click “Enter,” the upper control limit value will appear in the cell.
7. Enter the lower control limit value in the first cell of the “LCL” column. Enter the
value and copy it to the other cells in the column in the same way that you entered the
average value in the “Mean” column.
8. The procedure described above calculates the control limits at three standard
deviations above and below the mean. This is a common practice that provides a good
estimate of the control limit values. Note than when the lower control limit value is
less than zero, the lower control limit should be set to zero.
9. Control limits may be calculated by more rigorous mathematical methods. The values
obtained by such methods are more accurate. In the spreadsheet below, control limits
calculated by a more rigorous method are shown below the “standard deviation”
method values.
Your spreadsheet should look something like this.

Data Mean UCL LCL


17 9.95 18 1
8 9.95 18 1
9 9.95 18 1
10 9.95 18 1
6 9.95 18 1
7 9.95 18 1
9 9.95 18 1
16 9.95 18 1
7 9.95 18 1
10 9.95 18 1
14 9.95 18 1
8 9.95 18 1
6 9.95 18 1
8 9.95 18 1
16 9.95 18 1
11 9.95 18 1
5 9.95 18 1
11 9.95 18 1
12 9.95 18 1
9 9.95 18 1

9.95 20.45 -0.55


rigorous method 18.41 1.49

10. To create the chart, highlight all cells containing data, including the labels in the top
row. DO NOT include the rows containing the average, UCL and LCL values. To do
this quickly, move the cursor over the upper left cell and, holding down left button,
move the cursor over the lower right cell. Then release the button. The selected cells
should be black.
11. Move the cursor over the “Chart Wizard” icon in the toolbar at the top of the
spreadsheet and left-click. A pop-up window will appear. In the “Chart Type” box,
scroll down to the “Line” entry and left-click. Then, click on the “Finish” button in
the lower right corner. A line chart will appear that looks something like this.

12. You may improve the appearance of the chart by making minor modifications.
 Add a title and data labels. Move the cursor to the white area inside the border and
right-click. Click on “Chart Options…” Add titles and labels in the boxes for
“Chart Title,” “Category (X) axis,” and Value (Y) axis.”
 If the values along the x- and y-axes are too large, you may change the font size by
moving the cursor over the labels and right-clicking and then clicking on “Format
Axis…” In the pop-up window that appears, select a new font size in the “Size”
box and click “OK.”
 You may change the “Mean” line so it appears as a solid line. Move the cursor over
the “Mean” line and right-click. Click on “Format Data Series…” A pop-up
window will appear. In the “Marker” column, select the “None” button and click
“OK.”
 You may modify the “UCL” and “LCL” lines in the same way. You may also set
them to be the same color.
 If you wish, you may remove the “markers” from the data line in the same manner.

Your final chart will look something like this.

If you remove the markers from the data line, the chart will look like this.

You may also use the “Drawing” toolbar to add text boxes to the chart that provide
meaningful labels. An example is below.
All of the chart examples above are Excel spreadsheets. Double-click on the chart to open
the spreadsheet. You may than inspect cell values or copy the spreadsheets to other
documents and use them as a basis for your own charts.

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