Overview
Process capability is essential for ensuring that a process can consistently meet the requirements and expectations of our customers. By quantifying the capability of a process to produce the desired results, organizations can effectively maintain high quality products and minimize defects. From manufacturing to service industries, understanding and harnessing the power of capability analysis is essential for driving continuous improvement, enhancing customer satisfaction, and ultimately, achieving sustainable success in today’s dynamic business environment.
So why is it that so many consumers of these metrics do not correctly use or interpret them? Let’s delve into some important considerations that often get missed when reporting and interpreting that Cpk or Ppk value.
Consideration #1: Is Your Process Stable?
While we must get products out the door, the most successful companies take a step back and monitor their processes to make sure they are stable first. Making sure your process is stable is important to process capability for two reasons:
- Focusing on process stability inherently reduces process variation which in turn increases process capability.
- If the process isn’t stable, then how can you even tell whether the process is capable. In other words, the question becomes: Capable when? If the process is shifting, we really don’t know if it was capable of creating the required product when a particular customer received it.
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