SPC: Statistical Process Control in Injection Molding and Extrusion Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I am a grateful reader who used Dr. Rauwendaal's first book on SPC tosolve real world extrusion problems.His second book, SPC in InjectionMolding and Extrusion is even better and covers injection molding too.Ina nutshell, this book gives the interested reader, technical or not,management or in the trenches, everything he or she needs to successfullyunderstand and apply SPC in extrusion and injection molding manufacturingoperations.That's a big statement, but I can back it up with thisstory.
I design extruded and injection molded plastic parts for clientsfor a living.I also design specialty down-stream equipment for extrusionlines and occasionally solve production problems.
Recently I had aserious yield problem with an extruded product I had designed.I hadmounds of data, but with no background in either statistics or statisticalprocess control.I was unable to successfully organize or make sense ofthe data.
I consulted Dr. Rauwendaal's book.I was skeptical that askinny little book like this could help me solve my problem or make me aninstant expert on SPC.I was wrong on both counts.What makes this bookso powerful is that the author has a strong academic and theoreticalbackground and is an expert in processes.But, he's also been in thetrenches and gotten his hands dirty.He has written in simpledown-to-earth prose that is immediately useful.
You can't use SPC unlessyou know something about the process technology.Rather than leap rightinto the statistics, the author gives the reader a primer in processtechnology, starting with the main components of the injection or moldingmachine.From there he leads us through each of the steps the plastic goesthrough on its way to becoming a finished product.
Along the way he givesus a background on the properties of the most common plastics and how theyperform.He also talks about the principals of good die and molddesigns.
An especially useful chapter for me was on data collection andproblem solving.The author presents simple yet powerful ways to analyze aproblem and organize your data, which is the first step toward itssolution.There is a chapter on how to set up experiments to analyzeproblems.The book also has an excellent subject index and a greatglossary.Over 50 references are cited for those who want more informationthough I doubt that many readers will need them.A list of commerciallyavailable statistical software packages is also included.
Here's the restof the story.With nothing more than Dr. Rauwendaal's book, I was able toorganize and analyze the data I had gathered.I devised new experiments tohelp me pinpoint my problems.I wrote a simple SPC program that I couldrun in real time to collect and analyze data using Excel spreadsheetfunctions on my laptop computer.The net result was that I was able toidentify problems and make changes in my process.I reduced my yield lossfrom more than 5% to a fraction of a percent while increasing productionspeed by over 20%.
Before I read this book, I could calculate standarddeviation, mean and the average for a collection of numbers, but that wasabout it.Now I have a good working knowledge of SPC and know how to applyit to improve products I design and to increase production and yield at thesame time.Everything I needed to know was in Dr. Rauwendaal's book.
I'mwaiting for Dr. Rauwendaal to write a book on how to fix your own computer.

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