Quality control in the U.K. chemical manufacturing industry—a study. Part II

Abstract

This paper presents the results of the second phase of a detailed study of the practice and management of quality control in the chemical manufacturing industry. The first part of the investigation comprised a questionnaire survey which revealed that this sector of industry makes surprisingly low use of statistical quality control (SQC) techniques. The second part took the form of structured interviews in 16 chemical companies within the U.K. The results indicate that use of SQC is, in fact, much less than suggested by the questionnaire survey and that the main reasons for the low use are lack of knowledge and understanding of statistical techniques and their application in the industry.