Raising Statistical Literacy for Manufacturing Productivity

The key to increasing productivity in the manufacturing sector does not lie solely in high technology, but also in an environment in which personnel at all levels are operating with rational decisions and actions based on organised information. Inasmuch as uncertainties and changes are the features of all real‐world situations, appropriate means of measurement, analysis, prediction and control are indispensable; thus statistical tools have become a prerequisite to any productivity drive, those of statistical quality control being the most typical and best known. Some aspects of attaining proficiency in the statistical approach in an organisation are discussed from a management perspective.