Impact of Statistical Process Control for Continuous Quality Improvement in Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises

Abstract

This study focuses on the adoption of statistical process control (SPC) tools and techniques, and their impact on micro, small and medium scale industries where quality and benchmarking is major focus. Product inspection has limitations and advantages, as the adoption of SPC points out a warning bell in the early stages of the production. Here, MSMEs were interviewed regarding the awareness, adoption, and application of quality checks and SPC tools. The analysis revealed the high focus is there on check sheets, followed with Pareto charts. Other approaches of Kanban and Poka-yoka are also finding their wide applications. Need for training of workers for technical enhancement was also emphasized. Better quality checks delivers results in terms of brand value, and better customer satisfaction which are key to the success in today’s competitive global market. Continuous improvement model, its requirements, methodologies for adoptions and critical success factors are also discussed.