CHAPTER TWELVE. Statistically based quality improvement for Attributes

Statistically based quality improvement for Attributes
Summary
Attribute refers to a peculiar or unique characteristic of a product or service. In this case, it refers to that which is either in existence or does not exist. There exist five attributes of statistically-based quality improvement. First is the structural attribute that focuses on the physical characteristics of particular products or services. Secondly involves the sensory attributes that relate to the five senses of smell, taste, touch, vision as well as sound. The sensory attributes are useful in the designing of form or package that is used creating appealing products to consumers. Thirdly, there is the performance attributes that relate to whether or not particular products or services perform at the expected level. Fourthly, are the temporal attributes that focus on time and finally the ethical attributes. The ethical attributes that provide an answer on whether the service providers are empathetic or if their accounting system provides proper reporting abilities. All the attributes as presented often appear as binary in nature with or without flaws. The attributed are wither customer-based that focuses on satisfying customer desires or production-related that are involved in the production processes and considered to be more internal and engineering in nature. The chapter provides quality control mechanisms for the identified attributes which are presented by control charts followed by the reliability models (Thomas, Hand, & Turner, 2007).
The bathtub curve as expressed in this chapter presents a plot that defines the probability of the device failure as measured against time. In the description of the bathtub, from left to right, the curve is presented as starting from high alongside being asymptotically approaching a low level for some time before it actually returns to its starting level at the very end of the device’s operational life cycle. In this case, the model reveals the aspect that the products appear to be more likely to fail either very early or rather late in the entire life.
Figure 1: Bathtub shaped representation of hazard curve
The series, as well as parallel reliability models, influence the design of the product. In this case, the system components are presented in series in the event that the entire system is fully dependent on the proper functioning of the components. The process of computing the reliability of ...