Process Capability Analysis for Production Tolerance Assignment

Tolerance control is critical in assuring product quality in discrete part manufacturing. This paper deals with an important aspect of tolerance control, namely, the assignment of production tolerance and determination of working dimensions. The guiding principle is that tolerance is used to account for the inevitable errors in manufacturing, which are collectively reflected in process capability. Therefore, a methodology based on process capability analysis is proposed. It assumes the use of existing production equipment where historical data is available. Algorithms are developed and their use is illustrated using a simplified actual part. Authors: Anshum Jain, Nuo Xu, Samuel H. Huang (University of Cincinnati, OH), Y. Kevin Rong (Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA).