scholarly journals A New Approach to Statistical Process Control: Identification of Outliers in Yield Maps

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 334
Author(s):  
Danilo Tedesco de Oliveira ◽  
Leonardo Bernache ◽  
Luan Pereira de Oliveira ◽  
Murilo Aparecido Voltarelli ◽  
Rouverson Pereira da Silva

The tools of precision agriculture are of utmost importance in the Brazilian agribusiness, enabling increases in yields and reducing production costs. The use of harvest monitoring systems makes it possible due the possibility to identify pontual problems in an area, however, it becomes necessary to be working properly so it does not acquire incorrect information. Therefore, the purpose with this study was to propose a new approach to identify discrepant points in harvesting maps using statistical process control, as well as to define the best multiple of the standard deviation to identificate these points. The work was conducted during the soybean harvesting at São Geronimo farm in an area of 38 hectares in the municipality of Candido Mota, located in the the state of São Paulo. For gathering information, it was used a Stara crop monitoring system (model Topper Maps) set to record information during harvest in each three second. The productivity data were used to generate an individual control chart to identify points that were out of control so they could be removed. Two standard deviation multiples, that presented an average productivity closer to the average real productivity of the area, were selected. The multiples of the deviations that came closest were the 2σ and 3σ. Two multiples of standard deviation presented an average yield closer to the average real yield of the area. Individual control charts can be used to set control limits and identify possible discrepancies. The multiple of standard deviation 3σ presented information with greater reliability.

Author(s):  
Mario Lesina ◽  
Lovorka Gotal Dmitrovic

The paper shows the relation among the number of small, medium and large companies in the leather and footwear industry in Croatia, as well as the relation among the number of their employees by means of the Spearman and Pearson correlation coefficient. The data were collected during 21 years. The warning zone and the risk zone were determined by means of the Statistical Process Control (SPC) for a certain number of small, medium and large companies in the leather and footwear industry in Croatia. Growth models, based on externalities, models based on research and development and the AK models were applied for the analysis of the obtained research results. The paper shows using the correlation coefficients that The relation between the number of large companies and their number of employees is the strongest, i.e. large companies have the best structured work places. The relation between the number of medium companies and the number of their employees is a bit weaker, while there is no relation in small companies. This is best described by growth models based on externalities, in which growth generates the increase in human capital, i.e. the growth of the level of knowledge and skills in the entire economy, but also deductively in companies on microeconomic level. These models also recognize the limit of accumulated knowledge after which growth may be expected. The absence of growth in small companies results from an insufficient level of human capital and failure to reach its limit level which could generate growth. According to Statistical Process Control (SPC), control charts, as well as regression models, it is clear that the most cost-effective investment is the investment into medium companies. The paper demonstrates the disadvantages in small, medium and large companies in the leather and footwear industry in Croatia. Small companies often emerge too quickly and disappear too easily owing to the employment of administrative staff instead of professional production staff. As the models emphasize, companies need to invest into their employees and employ good production staff. Investment and support to the medium companies not only strengthens the companies which have a well-arranged technological process and a good systematization of work places, but this also helps large companies, as there is a strong correlation between the number of medium and large companies.


2020 ◽  
Vol 79 (Suppl 1) ◽  
pp. 1855.2-1855
Author(s):  
M. Stevens ◽  
N. Proudlove ◽  
J. Ball ◽  
C. Scott

Background:Pathology test turnaround times (TATs) are a limiting factor in patient flow through rheumatology services. Quality improvement (QI) methodologies such as Lean use tools including statistical process control (SPC) and process mapping to study the performance of the whole of a clinical pipeline, expose unnecessary complexity (non-value-adding activity), and streamline processes and staff roles.Objectives:Understand effects of changes made to CTD testing algorithm over last 12 years by measuring some of the effects on TATs. Model current processes and suggest changes to workflow to improve TAT.Methods:High-level flow diagrams of the current testing algorithm, and low-level process maps of analyser and staff processes were drawn.Activity and TATs (working days between report and booking date) for ANA, ENA, DNA and CCP tests were plotted as XmR control charts.Results:Finding 1: Largest referral laboratory does not currently operate a separate DNA monitoring workstream, resulting in unnecessary ANA and ENA testing (figure 1).Figure 1.Current testing strategy (left) and suggested improvement (right)Finding 2:Samples are handed off between 3 different lab benches, each of which may be staffed by a different staff member on a different day, and results processing involves handoff to a further 2 different staff members.Finding 3:ANA demand is close to capacity, ENA demand exceeds current capacity (table 1).Table 1.Demand for ANA, ENA and DNA tests, compared to capacityTestMedian Demand(tests/ day)Approx. Capacity(tests/ day)NotesANA74100Close to 80% recommended by the ILGsENA3836*Less capacity than demand!!DNA34100PlentyFinding 4:Stopping screening DNA requests on ANA result increased the number of DNA tests performed by about 10 samples per day (30%), but decreased turnaround time by a similar proportion (3.3 to 2.3 days, figure 2). It also reduced turnaround times of ANA and ENA tests.Figure 2.Control chart of average TAT of dsDNA antibodies by request dateConclusion:Typically for a QI project, the initially simple CTD testing pipeline has accumulated many changes made without consideration of whole system performance, and is now a struggle to run.Improvement ideas to be explored from this work include:Liaising with main referral lab to develop a DNA monitoring workstream to reduce unnecessary ANA and ENA testingReduce handoffs, sample journey around lab analysers, and staff hands-on time by:changing ANA test methodology to same as DNAcreating new staff roles (analyser operators to perform validation/ authorisation steps)Create more capacity for ENA testing by increasing the frequency of this test on the weekly rotaCreate more capacity for service expansion by running analysers at weekends (staff consultation required)Reduce demand on service by engaging and educating requestorsImprove TAT for DNA by:processing samples the day they are booked in, instead of 1 day laterauto-validating runs…using control charts to measure improvementDisclosure of Interests:None declared


2015 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 1079-1092 ◽  
Author(s):  
Murilo A. Voltarelli ◽  
Rouverson P. da Silva ◽  
Cristiano Zerbato ◽  
Carla S. S. Paixão ◽  
Tiago de O. Tavares

ABSTRACT Statistical process control in mechanized farming is a new way to assess operation quality. In this sense, we aimed to compare three statistical process control tools applied to losses in sugarcane mechanical harvesting to determine the best control chart template for this quality indicator. Losses were daily monitored in farms located within Triângulo Mineiro region, in Minas Gerais state, Brazil. They were carried over a period of 70 days in the 2014 harvest. At the end of the evaluation period, 194 samples were collected in total for each type of loss. The control charts used were individual values chart, moving average and exponentially weighted moving average. The quality indicators assessed during sugarcane harvest were the following loss types: full grinding wheel, stumps, fixed piece, whole cane, chips, loose piece and total losses. The control chart of individual values is the best option for monitoring losses in sugarcane mechanical harvesting, as it is of easier result interpretation, in comparison to the others.


Author(s):  
William E. Odinikuku ◽  
Jephtah A. Ikimi ◽  
Ikechukwu P. Onwuamaeze

In many countries manpower problems in the field of health care are regular items on the agenda of policy makers. To avoid mismatches between demand of care and supply of care on national and regional levels, manpower planning models and methods are used to determine adequate numbers of medical specialists to fulfill the future demand of care. Inadequate or inefficient allocation of manpower to various departments in an organization or workplace can lead to undesired outcomes which may include: down time, reduced productivity, workers fatigue, increased production costs, etc. As a result of the above stated problem, there is need to devise a statistical model that will ensure optimal allocation of manpower. In this study, the optimum allocation of two hundred and fifty two general nurses to fifteen wards at a hospital code named WCH located in South-South geopolitical zone, Nigeria was achieved using statistical process control. The study involved the analysis of data obtained from our hub of study for a period of two months. The C-chart was used to check if the process of allocation was in control or not. The result obtained from the study showed that the manpower allocation process was out of statistical control as the allocation of the children emergency ward was outside the upper control limit of the c-chart plot.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document