How A Course In Statistical Process Control Can Utilize Real Time Data

Engaging students as active learners in applied statistics courses and getting them to think critically about the workings of a full-scale production facility is a difficult task. Yet it is an important challenge that educators face when teaching a statistical process control course. This challenge has been addressed at GVSU by giving students an opportunity to participate in projects and to interact with professionals in the field. In this initiative, real-time statistical process control data is being continuously collected on the factory floor. Once it is collected it is automatically transferred from the production facility to GVSU via the Internet for use in a statistical process control course. The data is updated on a daily basis and is continuously available to students for analysis purposes. This paper describes the experiences of the authors and their students with this approach over a period of two years. The authors will discuss how student projects were utilized throughout the semester and how a plant tour (at the beginning of the semester) was set up and leveraged throughout the course. Good data is a critical need of an applied statistical process control course and this project represents an opportunity for industry to share data from billions of dollars in equipment investment with academia. Consequently, industry benefits by acquiring student analyses on their manufacturing process, and ultimately industry benefits by hiring graduates that are more aware of how quality control is accomplished.