This unique volume provides an up-to-date and detailed description of the various process capability indices widely (and sometimes misleadingly) used in the applications at production sites. The authors, who are internationally recognized experts in this area with numerous contributions to the field, provide a lucid exposition, which covers all the main aspects, developments and advances.

The concept of Process Capability Index (PCI) is barely 20 years old, but the multitude of available versions can overwhelm even the most seasoned practitioner. The organized and self-contained presentation of the material starting from 1980’s primitive indices (C_p and C_pk) up to the newly proposed indices for the cases of multiple dependent characteristics results in an authoritative and indispensable reference.

A proper balance between theoretical investigation and “rule-of-thumb” practical procedures is maintained in order to eliminate the tensions among various methodologies of assessing the capability of industrial processes.

Contents:

• The C_p Index
• The C_a Index
• The C_pk Index
• The C_pm Index
• The Loss Indices
• The C_pmk Index
• The S_pk Index
• The C_PU/C_PL Index
• Multi-Process Performance Analysis Chart (MPPAC)
• PCIs with Asymmetric Specification Limits
• Supplier Selection Based on PCIs
• Acceptance Sampling Plans Based on PCIs
• Process Capability Measures in Presence of Gauge Measurement Errors
• Process Capability Assessment with Tool Wear
• Process Capability Assessment for Non-Normal Processes
• Multivariate Process Capability Indices

“One strength of the book is the treatment of the inferential nature of these indices. The informed reader will appreciate the compilation and pointers to the in-depth literature for confidence intervals and hypothesis testing using various estimation procedures ... Pearn and Kotz provide an extraordinary service in giving a very good review of capability analysis for the expert user, researcher and software developer. They provide useful connections among the research performed over the past 20+ years.”

"The authors provide a very useful Bibliography arranged alphabetically by the first author's name which contains a voluminous listing of 474 publications … this book is unique and will be very useful for industries and research organizations concerned with the process control."