Lower confidence bounds with sample size information for C_pm applied to production yield assurance

Abstract

The process capability index C _pm , sometimes called the Taguchi index, has been proposed to the manufacturing industry as providing numerical measures on process performance. A lower confidence bound estimates the minimum process capability, conveying critical information regarding product quality, which is essential to quality assurance. The sample size determination is directly related to the cost of the data collection plan. The purpose of this paper is to provide explicit formulas with efficient algorithms to obtain the lower confidence bounds and sample sizes required for specified precision of the estimation on C _pm using the maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) of C _pm . We also provide tables for the engineers/practitioners to use for their in-plant applications. A real-world example taken from a microelectronics manufacturing process is investigated to illustrate the applicability of the proposed approach. The implementation of existing statistical theory for capability assessment bridges the gap between the theoretical development and factory applications.