What is SPC ? | Introduction in Statistical Process Control

More and more industries and customers are requiring SPC implementation. It is mandatory in automotive (IATF 16949, VDA), semiconductor, aerospace (AS13006), medical device etc. To get the benefits from a SPC implementation you need to implement SPC real-time. Data should be gathered on the shop floor and SPC results should be available instantly for operators and manufacturing support. This means you need to address SPC automation in an early stage of the implementation. This is also important to make sure SPC is implemented efficiently. You do not want to loose expensive engineering time on gathering and processing Excel documents to get an SPC analysis after the fact.

Typical aspects which need to be considered during real-time SPC implementation and automation are:

• Required functionality
• Integration in the organization (3 levels)
• Integration in the IT architecture (ERP, MES, hard and software, Big data)
• Integration with other quality software (FMEA, MSA, OEE, CAPA)
• Integration with gages and measurement systems (Camera’s, PLC, CMM etc)
• Specific industry or company requirements (FDA, IATF 16949, AS13006, Legal requirements, multiple languages, centralization, reporting
• Training and (local) support