ABSTRACT
The epoch-making discovery and development of the control chart were made in 1924 and by a young physicist of the Bell Telephone Laboratories, Walter A. Shewhart. This chapter introduces Shewhart control charts in general terms. Control charts are of great use in the analysis and control of manufacturing processes, so as to produce quality that is satisfactory, adequate, dependable and economic. The purpose of control charts is to compare observed results against a population whose parameter or parameters are known. The chapter also discusses the advantages which may accrue when a process is brought into good control.
