Fundamentals of Quality Control and Improvement

Mitra (management, Auburn U.) introduces the foundations of methods of statistical quality assurance and statistical process control for the manufacturing and service industries. After introducing the philosophy and fundamentals of the field, he deals with statistical concepts and techniques in quality control improvement, followed by graphical methods of empirical distributions. The statistical foundations of quality control are examined in chapters on statistical concepts and techniques (especially inferential statistics) and graphical methods of empirical distributions. The core material of statistical process control is discussed next in a section that covers principles and use of control charts, control charts for attributes, the ability of a process to meet customer specifications, capability analysis procedures, process capability indices, and approaches to setting tolerances on assemblies and components. Finally, acceptance sampling procedures are considered and product and process design is explored in terms of reliability and the effects of time on the product, experimentals design, and the Taguchi method for design and quality improvement. For the new edition, the theme of applications of quality control and improvement in the service sector has been integrated into the text and new case studies and other new materials have been incorporated. Annotation c2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Amitava Mitra, PhD, is Associate Dean in the College of Business and Professor in the Department of Management at Auburn University, Alabama. He has published over seventy journal articles and currently teaches in the areas of quality assurance and improvement. Dr. Mitra has over thirty years of academic and professional experience, and has conducted courses for professionals in total quality management, quality assurance and statistical process control, design of experiments, and Six Sigma Black Belt training.