A knowledge-based advisory system for statistical quality control

Abstract

Implementation of an effective quality management system requires the ready availability of expert statistical quality control (SQC) practitioners. However, this expertise may be unavailable to many small- and medium-size manufacturing organizations. Knowledge-based systems (KBS) can be used to make SQC expertise easily available to these organizations. This paper describes a KBS that has been developed for providing assistance in: (1) the selection and design of appropriate quality control charts; (2) the process monitoring analyses; and (3) providing corrective advice based on the monitoring analyses results. The KBS runs on a microcomputer and has been developed using a commercially available development shell.