ABSTRACT
Statistical process control (SPC) is a procedure that helps organizations to improve quality. Many organizations incorrectly give this name to what could better be called a total quality improvement process. SPC helps organizations improve quality by solving problems through the identification and measurement of critical quality characteristics. Quality improvement begins with management commitment. For SPC and total quality to work, all members of management must demonstrate commitment to improving the processes of the organization. The demonstration of this commitment is a difficult and involved process. Using the quality problem identified via the check sheet and Pareto analysis, the cause-and-effect diagram attempts to identify potential causes of the quality problem. SPC is the application of statistical concepts to process monitoring and control. As it is used in most businesses, it is synonymous with total quality or continuous quality improvement. The underlying principle is the one of preventing problems rather than dealing with the results of the problems after they occur.
