Walid Smew

By Walid Smew, Bader Al-Mutawa and Ali Issawy

The quality of products in the industry can be improved by monitoring the manufacturing process and adjusting/optimizing the process input variables based on the output deviation from the target. SPC stands for statistical process control, and it is used to monitor processes in order to identify any assignable causes of variation. EPC stands for engineering process control, and it is concerned with adjusting systems inputs to keep the system output on target using different types of controllers such as integral controllers and PID controllers. Combining SPC and EPC as a unified framework proved to be effective in reducing production disruption in manufacturing industries. The main objective of this project is to redesign the production and quality control system in a chemical batch processing company, anonymous company, by developing an engineering process controller (EPC) in order to adjust the chemical process inputs to keep the output chemical concentration on best optimized target while monitoring the system using the sensitive time weighted control charts (SPC), in order to eliminate the process assignable causes of variation, improve system elements life, and reduce overall system wide costs.

Part of the book: Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma