An Interactive Visualization Web Application for Industrial-Focused Statistical Process Control Analysis

Abstract

Statistical process control (SPC) implementation plays a major role in quality assurance during the manufacturing process. Nevertheless, the adoption rate of SPC commercial software solutions is unsatisfactory in most Malaysian manufacturing companies due to high software subscription costs and difficulties in applying the software without proper know-how, guidance, and training. This study proposes the development of a purpose-built interactive data visualization web application for rapid SPC analysis in the manufacturing industry using open-sourced software packages. An agile software development model is applied as the software development methodology. In the requirement phase, an interview session was conducted to identify project requirements among stakeholders, i.e. industrial practitioners that are involved with SPC analysis. Based on the feedback and expectations from stakeholders, a design of a web application for SPC analysis that incorporates interactive parameter settings and automated reporting was proposed. The web application was developed using the R programming language and the Shiny package library, and deployed at ShinyApps.io, a web service provider. For evaluation, a usability testing procedure was designed and conducted with five industrial SPC practitioners to determine the usefulness of the web application. The outcome of the usability testing indicated positive results and feedback from evaluators. In conclusion, the developed web-app can assist users, particularly from the manufacturing industry sectors, to perform fast SPC data analytics, visualization, and reporting with ease.