2018-04-10 18:28
Minitab’s R&D department uses modern design principles, including a user-centered design approach – adopting the Neilsen Norman Group’s (NN/g) methods and processes… Read More
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Blog posts and articles about using Minitab software in quality improvement projects, research, and more.
2018-04-05 17:15
If you collect and analyze real data for a living, the idea of using simulated data for a Monte Carlo simulation sounds a bit odd. How can you improve a real product with simulated data? In… Read More
2018-03-13 20:44
Are you headed to Lean and Six Sigma World in Las Vegas April 3-4? In Beyond the Buzzwords: Application of Machine Learning in Lean Six Sigma, Minitab statistician Charles Harrison and I wil… Read More
2018-03-07 16:26
At Minitab, we want our users to focus their time on drawing sensible conclusions from their data that they can use to resolve business problems or take advantage of opportunities. However… Read More
2018-02-14 16:57
The convergence of the widespread deployment of low-cost sensors, cloud and greater compute power has brought together a multitude of connected devices which can monitor, collect, exchange… Read More
2017-12-04 17:30
Dramatic cost savings. Lead time and inventory reductions. Improved transactional processes.
Although Lean has its roots in manufacturing, nearly every industry and type of organization aro… Read More
2017-11-09 04:07
Lean, also known as “Lean Manufacturing” or “Lean Production,” focuses on maximizing customer value by removing waste and eliminating defects. Lean tools are about un… Read More
2017-10-31 20:00
Are you going to be a witch today? Batman? Jedi? You're not alone according to National Retail Federation statistics on top costumes and Halloween spending trends. Last-minute candy shopping… Read More
2017-10-27 09:35
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2017-10-19 11:08
Wildfires in California have killed at least 40 people and burned more than 217,000 acres in the past few weeks. Nearly 8,000 firefighters are trying to contain the blazes with the aid of mo… Read More
2017-09-19 01:39
Research out of the Juran Institute, which specializes in training, certification, and consulting on quality management globally, reveals that only 30 percent of improvement initiative… Read More
2017-08-31 13:57
Overfitting a model is a real problem you need to beware of when performing regression analysis. An overfit model result in misleading regression coefficients, p-values, and R-squared&n&hell…Read More
2017-08-29 13:57
Maybe you're just getting started with analyzing data. Maybe you're reasonably knowledgeable about statistics, but it's been a long time since you did a particular analysis and you feel a li… Read More
2017-08-24 13:59
Control charts take data about your process and plot it so you can distinguish between common-cause and special-cause variation. Knowing the difference is important because it permits you to… Read More
2017-08-22 13:58
In statistics, as in life, absolute certainty is rare. That's why statisticians often can't provide a result that is as specific as we might like; instead, they provide the results of an ana… Read More
2017-08-17 13:59
by Matthew Barsalou, guest blogger
At the end of the first part of this story, a group of evil trouble-making chickens had convinced all of their fellow chickens to march on the walled… Read More
2017-08-15 13:59
by Matthew Barsalou, guest blogger
Once upon a time, in the Kingdom of Wetzlar, there was a farm with over a thousand chickens, two pigs, and a cow. The chickens were well treated, but a fe… Read More
2017-08-10 13:58
The Six Sigma quality improvement methodology has lasted for decades because it gets results. Companies in every country around the world, and in every industry, have used this logical, step… Read More
2017-08-08 13:58
Six Sigma is a quality improvement method that businesses have used for decades—because it gets results. A Six Sigma project follows a clearly defined series of steps, and companies in… Read More
2017-08-03 13:57
In April 2017, overbooking of flight seats hit the headlines when a United Airlines customer was dragged off a flight. A TED talk by Nina Klietsch gives a good, but simplistic explanation of… Read More
2017-08-01 13:56
Can you trust your data?
That's the very first question we need to ask when we perform a statistical analysis. If the data's no good, it doesn't matter what statistical methods we emp… Read More
2017-07-27 12:00
We had solar panels fitted on our property in 2011. Last year, we had a few problems with the equipment. It was shutting down at various times throughout the day, typically when it was very… Read More
2017-07-25 13:58
All processes have variation, some of which is inherent in the process, and isn't a reason for concern. But when processes show unusual variation, it may indicate a change or a "special… Read More
2017-07-14 12:00
If you have a process that isn’t meeting specifications, using the Monte Carlo simulation and optimization tools in Companion by Minitab can help. Here’s how you, as an engineer… Read More
2017-07-12 12:00
How many samples do you need to be “95% confident that at least 95%—or even 99%—of your product is good?
The answer depends on the type of response variable you are using… Read More
2017-07-10 12:00
The two previous posts in this series focused on manipulating data using Minitab’s calculator and the Data menu.
In this third and final post, we continue to explore helpful features… Read More
2017-07-07 12:00
Have you ever had a probability plot that looks like this?
The probability plot above is based on patient weight (in pounds) after surgery minus patient weight (again, in pounds) before s… Read More
2017-07-06 12:00
Previously, I’ve written about when to choose nonlinear regression and how to model curvature with both linear and nonlinear regression. Since then, I’ve received several comment… Read More
2017-07-05 12:00
My previous post focused on manipulating text data using Minitab’s calculator.
In this post we continue to explore some of the useful tools for working with text data, and here we&rsq&hell…Read More
2017-06-29 17:03
It’s usually not a good idea to rely solely on a single statistic to draw conclusions about your process. Do that, and you could fall into the clutches of the “duck-rabbit”… Read More
2017-06-28 12:00
With Minitab, it’s easy to create graphs and manage numeric, date/time and text data. But Minitab’s enhanced data manipulation features make it easier to work with text data, too… Read More
2017-06-26 12:44
One of the biggest pieces of international news last year was the so-called "Brexit" referendum, in which a majority of voters in the United Kingdom cast their ballots to leave the European… Read More
2017-06-22 12:00
Suppose that you plan to source a substantial amount of parts or subcomponents from a new supplier. To ensure that their quality level is acceptable to you, you might want to assess the capa… Read More
2017-06-21 12:00
For a process improvement practitioner, finishing the Control Phase of the DMAIC process is your ticket to move on to your next project. You’ve done an excellent job leading the projec… Read More
2017-06-19 12:00
If you have a process that isn’t meeting specifications, using Monte Carlo simulation and optimization can help. Companion by Minitab offers a powerful, easy-to-use tool for Monte Carl… Read More
2017-06-16 12:00
Last week I was fielding questions on social media about Minitab 18, the latest version of our statistical software. Almost as soon as the new release was announced, we received a question t… Read More
2017-06-15 12:38
Companion by Minitab® is our software for executing and reporting on quality improvement projects. It consists of a desktop app, which practitioners use to do project work… Read More
2017-06-14 12:00
Easy access to the right tools makes any task easier. That simple idea has made the Swiss Army knife essential for adventurers: just one item in your pocket gives you instant access to dozen… Read More
2017-06-09 15:16
Companion by Minitab® is our software for executing and reporting on quality improvement projects. It has two components, a desktop app and a web app. As practitioners use the Compa… Read More
2017-06-07 17:09
It's a very exciting time at Minitab's offices around the world, because we've just announced the availability of Minitab® 18 Statistical Software.
Data is everywhere today, but to use… Read More
2017-06-06 12:00
by Dan Wolfe, guest blogger
How would you measure a hole that was allowed to vary one tenth the size of a human hair? What if the warmth from holding the part in your hand could take the me… Read More
2017-06-02 12:52
By now you have probably heard about Companion by Minitab®, our software for executing and reporting on quality improvement projects.
We've had questions about some terminology use… Read More
2017-06-01 12:00
Control charts are excellent tools for looking at data points that seem unusual and for deciding whether they're worthy of investigation. If you use control charts frequently, then you're us… Read More
2017-05-31 12:00
Before cutting an expensive piece of granite for a countertop, a good carpenter will first confirm he has measured correctly. Acting on faulty measurements could be costly.
While no measure… Read More
2017-05-26 12:00
The 1949 film A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court includes the song “Busy Doing Nothing,” and this could be written about the Null Hypothesis as it is used in statistical… Read More
2017-05-25 04:00
Rare events inherently occur in all kinds of processes. In hospitals, there are medication errors, infections, patient falls, ventilator-associated pneumonias, and other rare, adverse events… Read More
2017-05-24 12:26
By some estimates, up to 70 percent of quality initiatives fail. Why do so many of improvement programs, which are championed and staffed by smart, dedicated people, ultimately end up on the… Read More
2017-05-18 15:07
Users often contact Minitab technical support to ask how the software calculates the control limits on control charts.
A frequently asked question is how the control limits are calculated o… Read More
2017-05-17 12:57
In Part 1 of my A New Spin on the "Stand in a Circle" Exercise blog, I described how Taiichi Ohno, the creator of the Toyota Production System, used the “Stand in a Circle&rd&hell…Read More
2017-05-12 13:00
As a member of Minitab's Technical Support team, I get the opportunity to work with many people creating control charts. They know the importance of monitoring their processes with control c… Read More
2017-05-11 19:20
In the mid 1940s, Taiichi Ohno established the Toyota Production System, which is primarily based on eliminating non-value-added waste. He discovered that by reducing waste and inventory lev… Read More
2017-05-10 13:04
One of the most memorable presentations at the inaugural Minitab Insights conference reminded me that data analysis and quality improvement methods aren't only useful in our work and busines… Read More
2017-05-05 12:00
One highlight of writing for and editing the Minitab Blog is the opportunity to read your responses and answer your questions. Sometimes, to my chagrin, you point out that we've made a mista… Read More
2017-05-04 12:00
by Matthew Barsalou, guest blogger
For want of a nail the shoe was lost,For want of a shoe the horse was lost,For want of a horse the rider was lostFor want of a rider the battle was lostFo… Read More
2017-05-03 12:00
In ancient times dragons were believed to be set by the gods to guard golden treasures. This is because dragons were the most fearsome creatures and would deter would-be thieves. Dragon… Read More
2017-04-28 13:00
"Data! Data! Data! I can't make bricks without clay."
— Sherlock Holmes, in Arthur Conan Doyle's The Adventure of the Copper Beeches
Whether you're the world's greatest detectiv… Read More
2017-04-26 12:00
If you have a process that isn’t meeting specifications, using the Monte Carlo simulation and optimization tool in Companion by Minitab can help. Here’s how you, as a chemical te… Read More
2017-04-25 12:00
As someone who has collected and analyzed real data for a living, the idea of using simulated data for a Monte Carlo simulation sounds a bit odd. How can you improve a real product with simu… Read More
2017-04-21 12:00
Choosing the right type of subgroup in a control chart is crucial. In a rational subgroup, the variability within a subgroup should encompass common causes, random, short-term variability an… Read More
2017-04-19 12:00
Do your executives see how your quality initiatives affect the bottom line? Perhaps they would more often if they had accessible insights on the performance, and ultimately the overall impac… Read More
2017-04-17 15:03
Have you ever tried to install ventilated shelving in a closet? You know: the heavy-duty, white- or gray-colored vinyl-coated wire shelving? The one that allows you to get organized, m… Read More
2017-04-14 13:17
Grocery shopping. For some, it's the most dreaded household activity. For others, it's fun, or perhaps just a “necessary evil.”
Personally, I enjoy it! My co-worker, Ginger, a c… Read More
2017-04-13 13:06
If you regularly perform regression analysis, you know that R2 is a statistic used to evaluate the fit of your model. You may even know the standard definition of R2: the percentage of varia… Read More
2017-04-12 13:39
In Parts 1 and 2 of Gauging Gage we looked at the numbers of parts, operators, and replicates used in a Gage R&R Study and how accurately we could estimate %Contribution based on the cho… Read More
2017-04-07 12:00
Earlier, I wrote about the different types of data statisticians typically encounter. In this post, we're going to look at why, when given a choice in the matter, we prefer to analyze contin… Read More
2017-04-05 12:00
You run a capability analysis and your Cpk is bad. Now what?
First, let’s start by defining what “bad” is. In simple terms, the smaller the Cpk, the more defects you have… Read More
2017-04-04 12:00
In Part 1 of Gauging Gage, I looked at how adequate a sampling of 10 parts is for a Gage R&R Study and providing some advice based on the results.
Now I want to turn my attention to the… Read More
2017-03-31 12:00
by Kevin Clay, guest blogger
In transactional or service processes, we often deal with lead-time data, and usually that data does not follow the normal distribution.
Consider a Lean Six Si… Read More
2017-03-29 15:31
"You take 10 parts and have 3 operators measure each 2 times."
This standard approach to a Gage R&R experiment is so common, so accepted, so ubiquitous that few people ever question whe… Read More
2017-03-28 12:00
Everyone who analyzes data regularly has the experience of getting a worksheet that just isn't ready to use. Previously I wrote about tools you can use to clean up and eliminate clutter in y… Read More
2017-03-24 12:00
In Part 1 of this blog series, I compared Six Sigma to a diamond because both are valuable, have many facets and have withstood the test of time. I also explained how the term “Six Sig… Read More
2017-03-23 12:00
You've collected a bunch of data. It wasn't easy, but you did it. Yep, there it is, right there...just look at all those numbers, right there in neat columns and rows. Congratulations.
I h… Read More
2017-03-22 12:00
In my last post, I wrote about making a cluttered data set easier to work with by removing unneeded columns entirely, and by displaying just those columns you want to work with now. But too… Read More
2017-03-17 12:00
Did you know the most popular diamond cut is probably the Round Brilliant Cut? The first early version of what would become the modern Round Brilliant Diamond Cut was introduced by an Italia… Read More
2017-03-17 10:01
B'gosh n' begorrah, it's St. Patrick's Day today!
The day that we Americans lay claim to our Irish heritage by doing all sorts of things that Irish people never do. Like dye your hair green… Read More
2017-03-15 14:52
Isn't it great when you get a set of data and it's perfectly organized and ready for you to analyze? I love it when the people who collect the data take special care to make sure to format i… Read More
2017-03-13 19:38
Predictions can be a tricky thing. Consider trying to predict the number rolled by 2 six-sided dice. We know that 7 is the most likely outcome. We know the exact probability each number has… Read More
2017-03-10 13:00
In its industry guidance to companies that manufacture drugs and biological products for people and animals, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends three stages for process valida… Read More
2017-03-08 19:24
People can make mistakes when they test a hypothesis with statistical analysis. Specifically, they can make either Type I or Type II errors.
As you analyze your own data and test hypotheses… Read More
2017-03-06 13:00
Welcome to the Hypothesis Test Casino! The featured game of the house is roulette. But this is no ordinary game of roulette. This is p-value roulette!
Here’s how it works: We have two… Read More
2017-03-03 13:00
Like many, my introduction to 17th-century French philosophy came at the tender age of 3+. For that is when I discovered the Etch-a-Sketch®, an entertaining ode to Descartes' coordinate… Read More
2017-03-01 13:30
My colleague Cody Steele wrote a post that illustrated how the same set of data can appear to support two contradictory positions. He showed how changing the scale of a graph that displ… Read More
2017-02-27 13:00
A recent discussion on the Minitab Network on LinkedIn pertained to the I-MR chart. In the course of the conversation, a couple of people referred to it as "The Swiss Army Knife of cont… Read More
2017-02-24 13:14
Right now I’m enjoying my daily dose of morning joe. As the steam rises off the cup, the dark rich liquid triggers a powerful enzyme cascade that jump-starts my brain and central nervo… Read More
2017-02-22 14:00
Statistics can be challenging, especially if you're not analyzing data and interpreting the results every day. Statistical software makes things easier by handling the arduous mathemati… Read More
2017-02-20 13:00
As a person who loves baking (and eating) cakes, I find it bothersome to go through all the effort of baking a cake when the end result is too dry for my taste. For that reason, I decided… Read More
2017-02-17 13:16
To make objective decisions about the processes that are critical to your organization, you often need to examine categorical data. You may know how to use a t-test or ANOVA when you’r… Read More
2017-02-15 13:00
by Rehman Khan, guest blogger
There are many articles giving Minitab tips already, so to be different I have done mine in the style of my books, which use example-based learning. All ten ti… Read More
2017-02-13 13:15
Histograms are one of the most common graphs used to display numeric data. Anyone who takes a statistics course is likely to learn about the histogram, and for good reason: histograms are ea… Read More
2017-02-10 13:00
by Matthew Barsalou, guest blogger.
The old saying “if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and looks like a duck, then it must be a duck” may be appropriate in bird w… Read More
2017-02-08 13:00
Have you ever wanted to know the odds of something happening, or not happening?
It's the kind of question that students are frequently asked to calculate by hand in introductory stati… Read More
2017-02-06 13:00
Genichi Taguchi is famous for his pioneering methods of robust quality engineering. One of the major contributions that he made to quality improvement methods is Taguchi designs.
Designed e… Read More
2017-02-03 13:00
In its industry guidance to companies that manufacture drugs and biological products for people and animals, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends three stages for process valida… Read More
2017-02-01 13:00
Have you ever wished your control charts were better? More effective and user-friendly? Easier to understand and act on? In this post, I'll share some simple ways to make S… Read More
2017-01-30 13:04
In the first part of this series, we saw how conflicting opinions about a subjective factor can create business problems. In part 2, we used Minitab's Assistant feature to set up a… Read More
2017-01-27 13:00
Did you ever wonder why statistical analyses and concepts often have such weird, cryptic names?
One conspiracy theory points to the workings of a secret committee called the ICSSNN. The Int… Read More
2017-01-25 13:05
T'was the season for toys recently, and Christmas day found me playing around with a classic, the Etch-a-Sketch. As I noodled with the knobs, I had a sudden flash of recognition: my drawing… Read More
2017-01-23 13:03
Previously, I discussed how business problems arise when people have conflicting opinions about a subjective factor, such as whether something is the right color or not, or whether a job app… Read More
2017-01-20 13:04
While there are many graph options available in Minitab’s Graph menu, there is no direct option to generate a waterfall chart. This type of graph helps visualize the cumulative effect… Read More
2017-01-18 13:00
In my last post on DMAIC tools for the Define phase, we reviewed various graphs and stats typically used to define project goals and customer deliverables. Let’s now move along to the… Read More
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