Managing Process Capability

Process capability is the ability of a process to consistently meet specified customer‐driven requirements, and is often reported in terms of capability indices and ratios. In this paper we briefly discuss these indices and ratios, as well as their managerial implications. We then introduce a graphical approach that can be used in monthly reports and team meetings to help visualize the capability of a process that has several quality characteristics. These graphs, which we refer to as capability graphs, have been well accepted by a number of managers in the consumer products industry. The methodology is illustrated via an in‐depth example.