An examination of the potential role of the Internet in distributed SPC and quality systems

Abstract

Statistical process control (SPC) techniques have been used with varying degrees of success in many sectors of manufacturing industry for many years. This paper examines their use in one specific sector of manufacturing industry, the steel cold rolling industry, and suggests how Internet‐based technologies could be integrated into the SPC process in order to provide a more responsive, customer‐centred system. The authors indicate how this approach is already being implemented in certain service sectors and propose a wider application of the approach. In order to set the context, the paper includes a brief description of how one particular manufacturing sector, the automotive supply chain, has implemented and benefited from the integration of Internet‐based techniques into its business and manufacturing processes. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.