Advertising mogul David Ogilvy complained that the advertising business tries to impress by using pretentious jargon. I have heard some business people speak in the same way about statistics and in particular statistical process control (SPC). They say that when they ask an expert about SPC, they receive a response filled with statistical jargon, equations, and Greek letters. Admittedly, to be an expert in SPC, one needs to understand the statistical jargon, equations, and Greek letters, and every organization using SPC needs at least one such expert. But not everyone in the organization needs to be an expert in order to take advantage of the remarkable benefits that can be attained from implementing SPC.
This book is designed to introduce SPC to working professionals who have little or no expertise in statistics. It uses very little statistical jargon, few equations, and just the bare minimum of Greek letters. The chapters contain many illustrations and examples to help the reader better conceptualize the material.
The objective of the book is to provide readers with a conceptual knowledge of SPC and what it can do for organizations that implement it. References are provided for readers who wish to acquire more depth in the subject. But readers whose only acquaintance with SPC is just having read this book will be better able to converse with the experts to understand what the experts recommend and to take appropriate actions based on those recommendations.
Appendix A consists of a bare bones introduction to statistical concepts and terminology. Those with no background in statistics may wish to read Appendix A before reading Chapter 3. The book incorporates the use of SPC software to crunch the numbers instead of emphasizing how to make the calculations by hand. It is important that users have knowledge of what the software is doing, so the reader is advised not to rely on software applications without having a firm grasp of the underlying statistics when using SPC. Appendix B contains information about the SPC software used in this book.