What role does statistical process control software play in helping organisations to meet ISO 9000?
This extract from the current ‘NWA Casebook’ from Adept Scientific outlines the basics. If the purpose of ISO 9000 is to ensure you maintain high quality standards in the goods you produce and the services you provide, then the purpose of SPC (statistical process control) is to monitor how well you’re achieving this, helping you sail through quality audits (we hope). It’s not in any way a method of meeting ISO 9000 in itself, but it is important in assessing where you stand. SPC uses statistical methods such as control charts, capability analysis and exception reporting to monitor and control a process. These identify variations within the process that can indicate areas for quality improvement. SPC also shows you how the process functions over time, so you can monitor the effect of improvements and predict how the process will run in the future, based on how it ran in the past. It helps you see if the process is currently capable of producing output that meets or exceeds specification
