Economic-statistical design of X charts for non-normal data by considering quality loss

When the (X) over bar control chart is used to monitor a process, three parameters should be determined: the sample size, the sampling interval between successive samples, and the control limits of the chart. Duncan presented a cost model to determine the three parameters for an (X) over bar chart. Alexander et al. combined Duncan's cost model with the Taguchi loss function to present a loss model for determining the three parameters. In this paper, the Burr distribution is employed to conduct the economic-statistical design of (X) over bar charts for non-normal data. Alexander's loss model is used as the objective function, and the cumulative function of the Burr distribution is applied to derive the statistical constraints of the design. An example is presented to illustrate the solution procedure. From the results of the sensitivity analyses, we find that small values of the skewness coefficient have no significant effect on the optimal design; however, a larger value of skewness coefficient leads to a slightly larger sample size and sampling interval, as well as wider control limits. Meanwhile, an increase on the kurtosis coefficient results in an increase on the sample size and wider control limits.