Improving processes is the best way to boost quality, and statistical process control is showing the way.
SPC is the building block for total quality management, ISO standards, six sigma and a host of other methodologies to control variance and reduce waste in manufacturing processes. Food engineers have applied SPC in some fashion for a quarter of a century. Though its use is expanding, the number-crunching essence of SPC remains unchanged. "We keep adding more algorithms to meet more rigorous requirements," allows Jeffery L. Cawley, vice president at Northwest Analytical Inc. (NWA), "but the core functionality is the same."