Orientador: Antonio Fernando Branco Costa / Banca: Messias Borges Silva / Banca: Linda Lee Ho / Banca: Anderson Paulo de Paiva / Banca: Carlos Alberto Chaves / Resumo: Os gráficos de X são apresentados na literatura supondo quase sempre que as observações da variável X são independentes. Na prática, no entanto, está se tornando rotina descobrir que esta condição não existe. A dependência entre observações gera um aumento na freqüência de alarmes falsos e diminui o poder do dispositivo estatístico. Nesta tese estuda-se o gráfico de X com amostragem dupla (AD) supondo que as observações de X são descritas por modelos parcimoniosos da família ARIMA (Autoregressivo, Integrado e de Médias Móveis). As propriedades da carta foram obtidas considerando o conceito de subgrupos racionais. Para comparar o desempenho do gráfico proposto com o desempenho dos esquemas concorrentes, isto é, o gráfico de X padrão, o gráfico de X com amostra de tamanho variável (ATV) e o esquema da Média Móvel Ponderada Exponencialmente (EWMA), foi necessário obter o número médio de amostras até o sinal (NMA) para todos eles. Os resultados obtidos mostram que a autocorrelação dentro do subgrupo tem forte impacto sobre as propriedades dos gráficos. O gráfico de controle com amostragem dupla é geralmente mais eficiente do que os esquemas concorrentes na detecção de desajustes na média do processo. / Abstract: The X charts are presented in the literature often assuming that the observations of the X variable are independent. In practice, however, it is becoming a routine to find out that such condition is unrealistic. The autocorrelation among the observations increases the false alarm rate and reduces the power of the statistical device. In this thesis, we study the Double Sampling X chart (DS) assuming that the observations of X are described by parsimonious models of the ARIMA family (Autoregressive, Integrated and Moving Average). The properties of the charts were obtained considering the concept of rational subgroups. To compare the performance of the proposed chart with the performance of the competitor schemes, that is, the standard X chart, the Variable Sample Size X chart (VSS) and the Exponentially Weighted Moving Average (EWMA) chart, it was necessary to obtain the average run length (ARL) for all of them. The results show that the autocorrelation within the subgroup has strong impact on the chart properties. The Double Sampling X chart is usually more efficient than the competitor schemes in the detection of the process mean shifts. / Doutor

Essa tese versa sobre um procedimento inovador para o controle e garantia da qualidade em processos de manufatura onde existem vários atributos e variáveis a serem monitorados, como acontece, por exemplo, na indústria cerâmica. O procedimento proposto, chamado de controle integrado da qualidade, começa com a definição de alguns postos de controle na linha de produção, onde o monitoramento será feito usando uma única carta de controle que agrega vários atributos e variáveis. Esse procedimento é complementado usando gráficos de Pareto, que hierarquizam as características de qualidade que contribuem mais fortemente para o percentual de defeituosos do posto, e as cartas de controle tradicionais, que são utilizadas seletivamente, apenas conforme a indicação dos gráficos de Pareto. A utilização conjunta dessas ferramentas auxilia no diagnóstico e solução dos problemas de qualidade, permitindo que as ações de melhoria aconteçam no tempo e local certo. Entre as vantagens do procedimento proposto, cita-se: (a) a simplicidade do controle integrado, que foca prioritariamente umas poucas cartas de controle; (b) a abordagem estatística, que fornece uma base sólida para a tomada de decisões; e (c) o forte apelo gerencial fornecido pelo controle integrado, que disponibiliza a cada amostra uma visão geral da condição de qualidade nos postos de controle e na linha de produção como um todo. A tese apresenta também uma abordagem sistemática para auxiliar na implantação do controle integrado da qualidade. Essa abordagem contempla 5 etapas principais: definição do projeto, planejamento da implantação, treinamento, implantação efetiva e acompanhamento e consolidação. Por fim, é apresentado e discutido um estudo de caso em uma indústria cerâmica, que contribui para a validação do método proposto. Com base nesse estudo de caso e no referencial teórico, conclui-se sobre o assunto. / This dissertation presents a new procedure, Integrated Quality Control, for quality control and assurance in situations where severa! variables and attributes are to be monitored. That is the case in the ceramics manufacturing industry, for example. The procedure is implemented by defining control (or work) stations in the production line; variables and attributes in each station are monitored simultaneously using an aggregated control chart for the percentages of non-conformities. When a signal occurs, a Pareto graph sorts out variables and attributes identifying those contributing the most to its occurrence: such variables and attributes are then examined using traditional control charts. The joint use of aggregate charts, Pareto graphs and univariate control charts turns monitoring and improvement of processes into a non-complex task. A systematic approach for the implementation of Integrated Quality Control is also presented. The approach comprises five main steps: project definition, implementation planning, training of personnel, effective implementation, and follow up. Key advantages of the procedure suggested here are: (i) ability to handle variables and attributes in a single integrated chart, (ii) the statistical approach which provides a solid basis for the decision-making, and (iii) strong managerial appeal provided by the integrated charts. The procedure is illustrated with a case study conducted in a ceramic plant. Some conclusions are drawn based on the results of this case study and in the theoretical references.

A number of factors have contributed to increased pressure on plant operating efficiency in the chemical processing industry. These factors include more stringent environmental and safety regulations, global economic pressures and downsizing of many support services in order to save money. Control performance monitoring is a tool that is used to keep control systems performing as optimally as possible. Various performance metrics and methods exist to evaluate plant operation. In essence, however, they all refer to the same principle which is to indicate how far a plant is operating from its inherent optimum and what can be done to ensure that the gap between the optimum and the current operation is as small as possible over the longest possible period. Performance monitoring is, although well researched, not a generic, complete and specific application. Current shortcomings of monitoring applications include the following; they are process or unit operation specific and they provide local indications of performance and do not provide a plant wide evaluation of how close the plant is operating to its inherent optimum. Performance reports are usually in terms of statistical measures and graphics which are usually abstract and vague. For high level decisions making (on operation end economic investment) simple and quantifiable measures are needed that are repeatable and transparent. The focus of this project was to develop and implement a regulatory performance monitoring structure for real-time application on an industrial pilot scale distillation column. The structure was implemented by means of two graphical interfaces. The first interface provides a holistic plantwide indication of performance and indicates sources of poor performance in the regulatory control structure. The plantwide interface includes a proposed plant wide performance index (PWI) that reduces operational efficiency to one specific number. The second interface supplements the plantwide interface by providing statistical information on individual loop performance. The individual loop interface is a tool to locate causes of poor performance in the regulatory control structure to aid controller and plant maintenance. / Dissertation (MEng (Control Engineering))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Chemical Engineering / unrestricted

Athlete preparation and performance continue to increase in complexity and costs. Modern coaches are shifting from reliance on personal memory, experience, and opinion to evidence from collected training-load data. Training-load monitoring may hold vital information for developing systems of monitoring that follow the training process with such precision that both performance prediction and day-to-day management of training become adjuncts to preparation and performance. Time-series data collection and analyses in sport are still in their infancy, with considerable efforts being applied in "big data" analytics, models of the appropriate variables to monitor, and methods for doing so. Training monitoring has already garnered important applications but lacks a theoretical framework from which to develop further. As such, we propose a framework involving the following: analyses of individuals, trend analyses, rules-based analysis, and statistical process control.

Traditional control charts for process monitoring are based on taking samples from the process at regular time intervals. However, it is often possible in practice for observations, and even entire samples, to be missing. This dissertation investigates missing observations in Exponentially Weighted Moving Average (EWMA) and Multivariate EWMA (MEWMA) control charts. The standardized sample mean is used since this adjusts the sample mean for the fact that part of the sample may be missing. It also allows for constant control limits even though the sample size varies randomly. When complete samples are missing, the weights between samples should also be adjusted. In the univariate case, three approaches for adjusting the weights of the EWMA control statistic are investigated: (1) ignoring missing samples; (2) adding the weights from previous consecutive missing samples to the current sample; and (3) increasing the weights of non-missing samples in proportion, so that the weights sum to one. Integral equation and Markov chain methods are developed to find and compare the statistical properties of these charts. The EI chart, which adjusts the weights by ignoring the missing samples, has the best overall performance. The multivariate case in which information on some of the variables is missing is also examined using MEWMA charts. Two methods for adjusting the weights of the MEWMA control statistic are investigated and compared using simulation: (1) ignoring all the data at a sampling point if the data for at least one variable is missing; and (2) using the previous EWMA value for any variable for which all the data are missing. Both of these methods are examined when the in-control covariance matrix is adjusted at each sampling point to account for missing observations, and when it is not adjusted. The MS control chart, which uses the previous value of the EWMA statistic for a variable if all of the data for that variable is missing at a sampling point, provides the best overall performance. The in-control covariance matrix needs to be adjusted at each sampling point, unless the variables are independent or only weakly correlated. / Ph. D.

No description available.

Injury risk reduction is an ever-evolving topic within an athletic environment. Consequences from an injury include participation time loss, financial, social, and personal costs. Coaching and medical staff strive to reduce the risk through various manners. Training load monitoring is one method that is utilized in injury risk reduction through global positioning systems (GPS) with statistical modeling. The purpose of this study was to investigate the external loads for training sessions and competition in starters versus non-starters; to determine if there were control chart violations associated with sustained injuries; and to determine whether in-season injuries were associate with one or more control chart violations. NCAA Division I female soccer players were recruited during the fall 2019 season. Participants were provided a STATSports GPS unit to wear during all practice and competition sessions to analyze the following variables: total distance, high metabolic load distance, sprints, accelerations, decelerations, and dynamic stress load (DSL). These variables were analyzed using statistical process control charts (SPC Charts) and Nelson Rules. Overall, there were 1,235 violations for the team, with the highest amount coming from DSL. Throughout the season, there were 16 time-loss injuries. Within the 3- and 7-day periods prior to injury, there were only two cases in which the injured athlete had more violations when compared to the team average. Therefore, SPC Charts were not a good indicator of injury risk prediction within this population. Future research includes reassessing these methods within a larger population and for a longer duration (i.e. several seasons). / Master of Science / Reducing the risk of injury in athletes is a focal point for many coaches, training, and medical staffs in collegiate athletics. The consequences of injury range from loss of playing time to financial and long-term health costs. Being able to reduce the risk of injuries not only has personal implications for the athlete but also relates to overall team success. Using global positioning systems (GPS) to track the amount of work done in training can possibly reduce injury risk. This study planned to investigate the workload in NCAA Division 1 collegiate female soccer athletes and if any injuries were sustained during both training and competition settings. The results suggest that statistical process control (SPC) charts and the Nelson Rules did not predict injury risk within this population. There is limited research that has used these tools. Future work can reassess these methods within larger collegiate athletic populations, over a longer period of time.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering / Shing I. Chang / Profile analysis has drawn attention in quality engineering applications due to the growing use of sensors and information technologies. Unlike the conventional quality characteristics of interest, a profile is formed functionally dependent on one or more explanatory variables. A single profile may contain hundred or thousand data points. The conventional charting tools cannot handle such high dimensional datasets. In this dissertation, six unsolved issues are investigated. First, Chang and Yadama’s method (2010) shows competitive results in nonlinear profile monitoring. However, the effectiveness of removing noise from given nonlinear profile by using B-splines fitting with and without wavelet transformation is unclear. Second, many researches dealt with profile analysis problem considering whether profile shape change only or variance change only. Those methods cannot identify whether the process is out-of-control due to mean or variance shift. Third, methods dealing with detecting profile shape change always assume that a gold standard profile exists. The existing profile shape change detecting methods are hard to be implemented directly. Fourth, multiple nonlinear profiles situation may exist in real world applications, so that conventional single profile analysis methods may result in high false alarm rate when dealing multiple profile scenario. Fifth, Multiple nonlinear profiles situation may be also happened in designs of experiment. In a conventional experimental design, the response variable is usually considered a single value or a vector. The conventional approach cannot deal with when the format of the response factor as multiple nonlinear profiles. Finally, profile fault diagnosis is an important step after detecting out-of-control signal. However, current approaches will lead to large number of combinations if the number of sections is too large. The organization of this dissertation is as following. Chapter 1 introduce the profile analysis, current solutions, and challenges; Chapter 2 to Chapter 4 explore the unsolved challenges in single profile analysis; Chapter 5 and Chapter 6 investigate multiple profiles issues in profile monitoring analysis and experimental design method. Chapter 7 proposed a novel high-dimensional diagnosis control chart to diagnose the cause of out-of-control signal via visualization aid. Finally, Chapter 8 summarizes the achievements and contributions of this research.

The aim of this project was to apply statistical process control (SPC) and measure the variation of fat content in milk in order to improve the standardization, so that the fat content does not change more than 0.03 percentage units from target. Recommendations of how to adjust the standardization should also be developed. The standardization takes place together with pasteurization in one of the three pasteurizers. Thereafter, the milk goes to a common product tank with all the pasteurizers. Samples from the three pasteurizers and the product tank were collected and analyzed on MilkoScan FT2 and the fat content was plotted into Shewhart and cumulative sum (CUSUM) charts. Sampling on the pasteurizers from startup showed that samples should be taken after about 20 minutes, because then the variation is in general smaller. The data from the product tank showed a smaller variation than the pasteurizers. Because the milk from all the pasteurizers is transported into one product tank, it is impossible to know which pasteurizer that is out of control and need to be adjusted. Therefore, the conclusion is that samples should be taken after the pasteurizer and plotted into Shewhart and CUSUM charts. Action limits were achieved from the Shewhart and CUSUM charts, respectively. These are the limits that should be used to determine when adjustments of the pasteurizers are needed, and not the brand limits that are considerably wider. If the measurements fall outside the second limit in the Shewhart chart (three times the standard deviation) or outside the limits (H) in the CUSUM chart, the standardization before the pasteurizer in question should be considered. It is not known if using SPC will improve the fat content to be within 0.03 percent units from target, because the recommendation has not been applied in the process yet, but it going to be that soon. / Syftet med detta arbete var att implementera statistisk processtyrning och mäta variationen i mjölkens fetthalt för att kunna förbättra standardiseringen. Detta skulle medföra att fetthalten inte förändras mer än 0,03 procentenheter från målet. Rekommendationer om hur standardiseringen bör justeras av fetthalten i mjölk ska också utvecklas. Standardiseringen sker tillsammans med pastöriseringen i en av de tre pastörerna. Därefter går mjölken till en gemensam produkttank för pastörerna. Prover från de tre pastörerna samt produkttank samlades in om analyserades på MilkoScan FT2 och fetthalten plottades in i Shewhart och Kumulativsumma (CUSUM) diagram. Provtagning från produktstart på pastörerna visade att prover skulle tas efter 20 minuter, eftersom variationerna då är mindre. Data från produkttank visade en lägre variation än hos de tre pastörerna. Eftersom mjölken från pastörerna transporteras till en produkttank är det omöjligt att veta vilken av de tre pastörerna som är utom kontroll och bör justeras. Därför är slutsatsen att proverna ska tas efter pastörerna och plottas in i Shewhart och CUSUM diagram. Åtgärdsgränser togs fram för både Shewhart och CUSUM diagram. Dessa är gränserna som ska användas för att bestämma när justeringar bör göras på pastörerna och inte varumärkesgränserna som är avsevärt bredare. Om ett mätvärde faller utanför den andra gränsen i Shewhart diagrammet eller utanför gränserna (H) i CUSUM diagrammet bör standardiseringen innan pastören i fråga justeras. Det är ännu oklart om standardiseringen kommer förbättras eftersom rekommendationerna inte har applicerats i processen än. Men kommer att göra det i den närmsta framtiden.

Na colheita mecanizada de cana-de-açúcar, existem algumas peculiaridades relacionadas às interações solo-máquina-planta, que tem causado preocupações, devido às perdas de matériaprima deixada no campo e à redução da longevidade do canavial, ocasionados pela deficiência do controle de altura de corte. A melhoria da qualidade do corte e da matéria-prima é proposta na bibliografia por meio de intervenções na colheita e em outras práticas culturais existentes, e de mudanças nos projetos das colhedoras. Os fabricantes desses equipamentos têm desenvolvido dispositivos para auxiliar o operador no controle da altura de corte. Tendo em vista a importância do corte de base na qualidade e perda de matéria-prima e na longevidade da soqueira, o objetivo desse trabalho foi avaliar a influência de um dispositivo semi-automático de controle de altura do corte de base, DAC, na qualidade do corte de base e seu desempenho ao longo de uma jornada de trabalho. Para tanto, os ensaios foram realizados em duas usinas de açúcar e álcool, com colhedoras equipadas com o DAC. Para a avaliação da qualidade do corte de base, foram utilizadas duas metodologias distintas, denominadas de etapa 1 e etapa 2. A primeira procurou identificar a influência da utilização do DAC na qualidade operacional. A segunda foi voltada para a avaliação da qualidade operacional com o uso DAC em situação normal de trabalho. Nas duas etapas, utilizaram-se técnicas do controle estatístico do processo. Os resultados mostraram que, em termos gerais e nas condições do trabalho, os parâmetros qualitativos analisados do corte de base realizado por colhedoras de cana-de-açúcar não atendem aos padrões especificados pelas usinas, independente do uso do DAC. / In sugar cane mechanized harvesting, there are some peculiarities related to soil-machineplant interaction which has been causing some concern due to raw material left on the field losses and the reduction in sugar cane crop longevity caused by deficiency in cut height control. Improvement in cut quality and raw material are proposed in bibliography by means of intervention at harvest and other crop practices available and changes in harvester design. Harvester producers have developed devices to aid the operator in controlling cut height. Whit the importance of base cutting in raw material quality and losses and crop longevity in mind, this study aimed at evaluating the influence of a semi-automatic base cutting control device, DAC, on base cutting quality and its performance on a normal working day. Thus, the trials were carried out in two sugar and alcohol mills with harvesters equipped with DAC. Two different methodologies, denominated stage one and stage two, were used in order to evaluate base cutting quality. The first one tried to identify the influence of DAC utilization on operational quality. The second one evaluated the operational quality with DAC use on a normal working condition. On both stages, techniques of statistical process control were used. The results showed that, in general and under the harvester operation conditions, the analyzed qualitative parameters of base cutting done sugar cane harvesters do not meet the standard specified by sugar mills regardless the DAC use.