Monitoring simple linear profiles using variable sample size schemes

<h3>Background</h3> Traditional strategies for surveillance of surgical site infections (SSI) have multiple limitations, including delayed and incomplete outbreak detection. Statistical process control (SPC) methods address these deficiencies by combining longitudinal...

In many statistical process control (SPC) applications, the quality of a process or product is represented by a relationship or the so-called quality profile, between a quality characteristic and one or more explanatory variables. The process quality characteristics are sometimes measured with a reasonable degree of approximation. Often, especially when qualitative assessments arise, evaluation of quality characteristics is carried out ambiguously or using linguistic qualifiers. The fuzzy sets theory has proved to be a well-established approach for dealing with uncertainty due to the approximate measurement, ambiguity in subjective evaluations, or vagueness in linguistic variables. Our main purpose was to present and compare four methods of monitoring nonlinear fuzzy profiles, for which different nonlinear fuzzy regression modeling approaches are considered. The first two methods are “a data-driven fuzzy rule-based” and “an extended least square support vector machine (LS-SVM),” for which the profile is characterized without considering a predefined mathematical relationship. However, for the other two methods, a specific form of the profile was needed. The third method, namely “a modified fuzzy regression model,” was initially invented for linear models. Besides, the fourth method employs “the fuzzy least square method” based on linearizing transformation. The exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) control statistic was used to derive the control statistic to be plotted on the univariate as well as multivariate control charts. An extensive simulation study was conducted to compare the performance of the methods, and the average run length (ARL) criterion was considered to assess the detect-ability of control charts against various out-of-control conditions. Our comparison results indicated that the multivariate EWMA (MEWMA) chart based on the LS-SVM method outperforms the rest in detecting process shifts with smaller values of ARL when the process undergoes out-of-control conditions.

Exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) control charts are consistently used for the detection of small shifts contrary to Shewhart charts, which are commonly used for the detection of large shifts in the process. There are many interesting features of EWMA charts that have been studied for complete data in the literature. The aim of present study is to introduce and compare the double exponentially weighted moving average (DEWMA) and EWMA control charts under type-I censoring for Poisson-exponential distribution. The monitoring of mean level shifts using censored data is of a great interest in many applied problems. Moreover, a new idea of conditional median is introduced and further compared with the existing conditional expected values approach for monitoring the small mean level shifts. The performance of the DEWMA and EWMA charts is evaluated using the average run length, expected quadratic loss, and performance comparison index measures. The optimum sample size comparisons for the specified and unspecified parameters are also part of this study. Two applications for practical considerations are also discussed. It is observed that different censoring rates and the size of shifts significantly affect the performance of the EWMA and DEWMA charts. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Statistical process control (SPC) is the method that monitors process quality characteristics. Through control charts, one can detect whether the present process malfunction. However, some annoyances may arise while the engineers need to choose appropriately control chart under different levels of process variation. The Shewhart, cumulative sum (CUSUM) and exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) control charts have been widely used for monitoring semiconductor manufacturing processes. Generally weighted moving average (GWMA) control chart is a new method of SPC, which was proposed by Sheu and Lin (2003). The main objective of this research is using step-by-step procedures to present a comparative study of the monitoring performance for Shewhart, CUSUM, EWMA and GWMA control charts. According to a specified in-control average run length (ARL), we determine the parameters of each control chart based on the Monte Carlo numerical simulation. The setting parameters in each control chart sre displayed and tabulated. While the process means or the process standard deviations are changing in different levels, the performance of each weighted control chart can be then compared by using the ARL. A rule of thumb for selecting better control schemes is provided as a truthfully reference to help engineers in choosing the more appropriate control charts immediately when the assignable causes occurred.

In order to improve the monitoring efficiency of the multivariable autocorrelation process and reduce the cost of process control, an economic design method of residual Multivariate Exponentially Weighted Moving Average (MEWMA) control charts with variable sample size and sampling intervals (VSSIs) was proposed. First, residual MEWMA control charts with VSSI were designed for monitoring multivariable autocorrelation processes. Second, the economic model of the VSSI residual MEWMA control chart was established, and a data example was given. The optimal design parameters of the control chart were obtained by using a genetic algorithm to minimize the expected cost per unit time. Third, using orthogonal experimental design and regression analysis, a sensitivity analysis of the economic model was carried out to get the relationship between the model parameters and the design parameters of the control chart. Finally, through the optimality analysis, it was verified that the proposed economic model was superior to the models established by the variable sampling intervals strategy and the variable sample size strategy and had less expected cost per unit time.

The exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) control charts with variable sampling intervals (VSIs) have been shown to be substantially quicker than the fixed sampling intervals (FSI) EWMA control charts in detecting process mean shifts. The usual assumption for designing a control chart is that the data or measurements are normally distributed. However, this assumption may not be true for some processes. In the present paper, the performances of the EWMA and combined X¯–EWMA control charts with VSIs are evaluated under non-normality. It is shown that adding the VSI feature to the EWMA control charts results in very substantial decreases in the expected time to detect shifts in process mean under both normality and non-normality. However, the combined X¯–EWMA chart has its false alarm rate and its detection ability is affected if the process data are not normally distributed.

This study aimed to design an exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) chart for the quality review of nuchal translucency (NT) and to assess its performance compared with the methods currently in use: retrospective distribution-based methods and the cumulative sum (CUSUM) chart. The EWMA model was designed for NT quality review using simulation. The NT measurements obtained during routine first-trimester screening in our centre over a two-and-a-half-year period were retrieved from the database. The NT distribution parameters, EWMA and CUSUM chart were established, and the methods were compared. On the basis of the results from the simulation, the optimal EWMA settings were established. A set of 9338 NT measurements obtained from nine sonographers was used to construct the EWMA and CUSUM charts and to calculate the distribution parameters. Distribution-based methods were unable to reveal the temporal periods of poor performance. The EWMA model agreed closely with the CUSUM but had the advantage promptly indicating when the process returned to an in-control state, thus extending its use to long-term prospective and retrospective quality assessments. The EWMA provides a universal, easy and efficient tool for NT quality review when the prompt and effective detection of suboptimal performance is desired.

Since multi-attribute control charts have received little attention compared with multivariate variable control charts, this research is concerned with developing a new methodology to employ the multivariate exponentially weighted moving average (MEWMA) charts for m-attribute binomial processes; the attributes being the number of nonconforming items. Moreover, since the variable sample size and sampling interval (VSSI) MEWMA charts detect small process mean shifts faster than the traditional MEWMA, an economic design of the VSSI MEWMA chart is proposed to obtain the optimum design parameters of the chart. The sample size, the sampling interval, and the warning/action limit coefficients are obtained using a genetic algorithm such that the expected total cost per hour is minimized. At the end, a sensitivity analysis has been carried out to investigate the effects of the cost and the model parameters on the solution of the economic design of the VSSI MEWMA chart.

Semiconductor lithography manufacturing presents a major challenge for the application of classical Statistical Process Control (SPC) methodologies due to the complex nature of this process. For example, difficulties can occur due to inadequate data sampling, nonnormal error distributions, equipment or process instability and nonstationary random errors. Incorrect use of classical SPC techniques can result in the incorrect interpretation of process stability which can have a drastic impact on productivity. Photolithography provides additional SPC challenges due to the inherent multivariable nature of the output variables that are being controlled. This paper examines appropriate SPC and monitoring techniques for stepper control of overlay performance using in-process measurement and analysis equipment to address these issues. The average run length of three charting techniques is compared to quantify the ability of each technique to detect process mean shifts. Shewart, Exponentially Weighted Moving-Average (EWMA) and Cumulative-Sum (CUSUM) charts are analyzed for a baseline process and mean shifts of 0.42, 0.85 and 1.25 standard deviations. These results illustrate the superior performance of a CUSUM chart over Shewart and EWMA charts. In addition, the Shewart chart with Western Electric rules produced false mean shift alarms for the baseline case. The EWMA is also observed to be sensitive to the selection of weighting factors. The effectiveness of plotting individual wafers is compared with plotting lot means. The plotting of individual wafers outperforms lot means in the determination of baseline shifts because of the larger population size of the individual charts.

The monitoring of processes is a vital mechanism for ensuring that such processes remain safe and under control. The present research aims to solve problems associated with correlated data by applying the Box-Jenkins method integrated with statistical process control (SPC) tools, namely the Shewhart chart, the moving average chart, the cumulative sum (CUSUM) chart, and the exponentially weighted moving-average (EWMA) chart. The efficiency of the four SPC tools was also compared in terms of the false alarm rate (FAR) and the missed detection rate (MDR). The findings indicated that the EWMA chart was the most effective in detecting anomaly, the Shewhart chart and the moving average chart produced high MDR, and the CUSUM chart suffered the highest FAR.

Exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) control chart can be designed to quickly detect small shifts in the mean of a sequence of independent normal observations. But this chart cannot perform well for skewed distribution. The main goal of this article is to suggest an EWMA control chart method that can be used to monitoring small shifts in a skewed distribution. Weighted variance method is introduced to construct a kind of EWMA chart for skewed distribution and the optimization design of this chart is given by using average run length as a performance assessment criteria. Pair of asymmetry control limits could be evaluated by sample dates in skewed distribution. The advantage of this method in detecting little drift for skewed distribution was illustrated by comparing with others control charts.

This research proposesalpha ([Formula: see text]-cut Exponentially Weighted Moving Average (EWMA) and Cumulative Sum (CUSUM) control charts with fuzzy response observations in a manufacturing process under the existence of mean shift utilizing the fuzzy logic. In this research, the replicate’s observation is a fuzzy number represented by a triangular membership function, with the lower, average, and upper observation values. The fuzzy numbers are then normalized and assigned as input to the fuzzy logic, while a common output measure (COM) value is the output. Finally, the original values of the COM values are employed in developing the EWMA and CUSUM control charts with different [Formula: see text]-cut values. Three real case studies are adopted to illustrate the proposed EWMA and CUSUM control charts; including piston inside diameter, cap’s angel, and tablet weight. Results showed that the proposed EWMA and CUSUM control charts efficiently monitor fuzzy observations and detect the shift in process means. Moreover, the amount mean shift and [Formula: see text]-cut values affect the decision on process condition. In conclusion, the proposed approach is found effective in monitoring quality characteristic of fuzzy observations under mean shift which can be applied in a wide range of business applications.

The exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) control chart is very effective in detecting small shifts in process mean or variance, but so far has not been well presented in the field of analytical chemistry. The main difference from the Shewhart chart is that the EWMA chart combines current data with historical observations by essentially taking a weighted average with weighting factor w of the most current sample observations and historical observations. We show that the EWMA chart with 0.05 < w < 0.20 is more effective in detecting small shifts in mean and variance than the Shewhart chart. In addition, the EWMA chart can also be used to forecast the observation in the next period, which can help analysts take preventive actions before process departures to the out-of-control state. Another advantage of using the EWMA chart is its good performance for observations that are not normally distributed or are autocorrelated.

Control charts applied to simulated sow herd datasets

The multivariate exponentially weighted moving average (MEWMA) control chart, in which the smoothing parameter is a principal diagonal matrix, is established based on the assumption that the samples follow the standard normal distribution to monitor the multivariate quality characteristics. However, monitoring quality characteristics always exists in the whole process. To make the MEWMA control chart more effective, a modified multivariate exponentially weighted moving average control chart, namely practical MEWMA (PEWMA) control chart, is proposed, in which the smoothing coefficient matrix is extended to a full-rank matrix which the smoothing parameter are all not zero. Analysis of both the in-control and out-of-control statistical performance of PEWMA control chart illustrate that the average run length of PEMWA control chart is more superior to the MEWMA. Finally combined with a factory example, a minimisation cost model is constructed based on the Lorenzen-Vance economic model to optimise the parameter combination.