Statistics Article Features

Donald J. Wheeler's picture
Donald J. Wheeler
In Part One and Part Two of this series we discovered some caveats of data snooping. In Part Three we discovered how listening to the voice of the process differs from the model-based approach...
Anthony Chirico's picture
Anthony Chirico
Perhaps the reader recognizes d2 as slang for “designated driver,” but quality professionals will recognize it as a control chart constant used to estimate short-term variation of a process. The...
Minitab LLC's picture
Minitab LLC
Choosing the correct linear regression model can be difficult. Trying to model it with only a sample doesn’t make it any easier. Let’s review some common statistical methods for selecting models,...
Dirk Dusharme @ Quality Digest's picture
Dirk Dusharme @ Quality Digest
In this episode we look at a history of quality, how you serve your customer in the housing industry, and what makes a good review. “Young couples ‘trapped in car dependency’” Building entry-level...
David Currie's picture
David Currie
Metrics are an important part of an effective quality management system (QMS). They are necessary to understand, validate, and course-correct the QMS. They should be used to verify that it is...
Dirk Dusharme @ Quality Digest's picture
Dirk Dusharme @ Quality Digest
In this episode we look at data, data, more data, and then... engineering the perfect human? “Your Data Are Your Most Valuable Assets” Just what the heck is Quality 4.0? Remember this acronym: CIA...
Anthony Chirico's picture
Anthony Chirico
In my first article, the merits and cautions of AS9138 c=0 sampling plans were discussed and a simple formula was provided to determine the required sample size to detect nonconforming units. In the...
Anthony Chirico's picture
Anthony Chirico
In my previous article, I discussed the merits and cautions of the “acceptance number” equal zero (c=0) sampling plans contained within AS9138. A simple formula was provided to determine appropriate...
Anthony Chirico's picture
Anthony Chirico
Aerospace standard AS9138—“Quality management systems statistical product acceptance requirements” was issued this year (2018), a few years after its accompanying guidance materials in section 3.7 of...
Dirk Dusharme @ Quality Digest's picture
Dirk Dusharme @ Quality Digest
In this all-manufacturing episode, we look at the STEM pipeline into manufacturing, supplier development, how to make sense of manufacturing data and, no, manufacturing is not dead. “Strengthening...
Donald J. Wheeler's picture
Donald J. Wheeler
Parts One and Two of this series illustrated four problems with using a model-building approach when data snooping. This column will present an alternative approach for data snooping that is of...
Davis Balestracci's picture
Davis Balestracci
During the early 1990s, I was president of the Twin Cities Deming Forum. I had a wonderful board whose members were full of great ideas. One member, Doug Augustine, was a 71-year-old retired Lutheran...
Laurel Thoennes @ Quality Digest's picture
Laurel Thoennes @ Quality Digest
In the foreword of Mark Graban’s book, Measures of Success: React Less, Lead Better, Improve More (Constancy Inc., 2018), renowned statistician, Donald J. Wheeler, writes about Graban: “He has...
Rip Stauffer's picture
Rip Stauffer
I must admit, right up front, that this is not a totally unbiased review. I first became aware of Davis Balestracci in 1998, when I received the American Society for Quality (ASQ) Statistics Division...
Donald J. Wheeler's picture
Donald J. Wheeler
In “Data Snooping Part 1” (Quality Digest, Aug. 6, 2018) we discovered the basis for the first caveat of data snooping. Here we discover three additional caveats of data snooping. Last month we...
Donald J. Wheeler's picture
Donald J. Wheeler
Data mining is the foundation for the current fad of “big data.” Today’s software makes it possible to look for all kinds of relationships among the variables contained in a database. But owning a...
William A. Levinson's picture
William A. Levinson
Quality and manufacturing practitioners are most familiar with the effect of variation on product quality, and this is still the focus of the quality management and Six Sigma bodies of knowledge....
Donald J. Wheeler's picture
Donald J. Wheeler
The ultimate purpose for collecting data is to take action. In some cases the action taken will depend upon a description of what is at hand. In others the action taken will depend upon a prediction...
Douglas C. Fair's picture
Douglas C. Fair
A few months back, I was reading a really good article from The Wall Street Journal, titled “Stop Using Excel, Finance Chiefs Tell Staffs.” Even though it was geared toward accounting and...
NACS's picture
NACS
The phrase, “Are we there yet?” has long been associated with boring summer road trips. However, a new study shatters that myth, as it shows that 69 percent of people say traveling to their...