Fuzzy Process Capability Evaluation (FPCE)

摘要

It is customary to use the 6-sigma spread in the distribution of the product quality characteristics as a measure of processrncapability. This value represents the collective contribution of many factors (such as machine, tool, setup, labor and many more)rninvolved in the production process. Measuring the process capability, however accurately done, only represents a singlerncombination of these factors. Any changes in one of these factors would affect the resultant process capability. Moreover, thernexisting evaluation of process capability is a tedious and time consuming process requiring possible interruption and stoppage ofrnproduction. This paper presents a novel approach for the evaluation of process capability based on readily available informationrnand knowledge of experts. It is a flexible system in that it can consider a number of different factors that may have an effect onrnprocess capability. It utilizes the concept of fuzzy logic to transfer the experts’ evaluation of the factors into a value representingrnthe process capability. Initial results indicate that the proposed technique is very effective.