Many different approaches to process improvement are on offer today. An appreciation of the way each approach works is crucial to selecting one that will be effective. Here we look at the problem of production and consider how the different improvement approaches deal with this problem.
The...
As I started reading The Book of Why: The New Science of Cause and Effect, by Judea Pearl and Dana Mackenzie (Basic Books, 2018), I was reminded how often analysts trot out the bromide “correlation is not causation.” It’s a well-known warning. Indeed, I often encourage those learning data...
Students are told that they need to check their data for normality before doing virtually any data analysis. And today’s software encourages this by automatically providing normal probability plots and lack-of-fit statistics as part of the output. So it’s not surprising that many think this is the...
Acceptance sampling uses the observed properties of a sample drawn from a lot or batch to make a decision about whether to accept or reject that lot or batch. Although the textbooks are full of complex descriptions of various acceptance sampling plans, there are some very important aspects of...
