Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani Work-Integrated Learning Programmes Division Second Semester 2009-2010 Comprehensive Examination

(EC-2 Regular) Course No. Course Title Nature of Exam Weightage Duration Date of Exam Note:
1. 2. 3. 4.

: ET ZC432 : QUALITY CONTROL ASSURANCE & RELIABILITY : Open Book : 60% No. of Pages =1 : 3 Hours No. of Questions = 6 : 03/04/2010 (FN)

Please follow all the Instructions to Candidates given on the cover page of the answer book. All parts of a question should be answered consecutively. Each answer should start from a fresh page. Mobile phones and computers of any kind should not be used inside the examination hall. Use of any unfair means will result in severe disciplinary action.

Q.1. A building contractor subcontracts a job involving hanging wall paper to a local merchant.

To have an idea of the quality level of the merchants work, the contractor randomly selects 300ft2 and counts the number of blemishes. The total number of blemishes for 30 samples is 80. Construct the centre line and control limits for an appropriate chart. Is it reasonable for the contractor to set a goal of an average of 0.5 blemishes per 100ft2? [10]

Q.2.

Light bulbs are tested for their luminance, with the intensity of brightness desired to be within a certain range. Random sample of 5 bulbs are chosen from the output and their luminance values are measured. The sample mean X and standard deviation s are found. After 30 samples, the following information is obtained.
30 30

X i = 2550
i =1

s
i =1

= 195

The specifications are 90 15 lumens. (a). Find the control limits for the X and s charts (b). Assuming that process is in control, estimate the process mean and process standard deviation (c). Find the process capability indices Cp and Cpk and comment on their values (d). If the target value is 90 lumens, find the capability index Cpm. (e). What proportion of the output is nonconforming, assuming a normal distribution of the quality characteristic? (f). If the process mean is moved to 88 lumens, what proportion of the output is nonconforming? What are your comments to improve process performance? [15]

Q.3. A sampling plan is desired to have a producers risk of 0.05 at AQL = 2.0 % nonconforming and a
consumers risk of 0.10 at LQL = 7% nonconforming. Find the single sampling plan with the largest sample size. Find the single sampling plan with the smallest sample size. [10]

Q.4. A standby system has a basic unit with four standby components. The time to failure of each
component has an exponential distribution with a failure rate of 0.008 per hour. For a 400 hour operating period, find the reliability of the standby system. What is the mean time to failure? Suppose all five components are operating simultaneously in parallel, what would be the system reliability in that situation? What would the mean time to failure be? [10]

Q.5. Discuss the assumptions that must be satisfied to justify using a P chart. How are they different
from the assumptions required for a c chart? [8] [7]

Q.6. Discuss the difficulties in measuring service quality. What are some remedial measures?
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