A new distribution‐free adaptive sample size control chart for a finite production horizon and its application in monitoring fill volume of soft drink beverage bottles

International audienceNonparametric control charts have received increasing attention in process monitoring. In this paper, a new nonparametric sign (SN) control chart with variable sample size (VSS) for a finite horizon process is developed. The novelty of this research lies in the incorporation of the VSS technique into the nonparametric SN chart for a finite horizon process, hence, resulting in the development of a more sensitive nonparametric short run chart. The statistical performance of the new nonparametric VSS SN control chart is evaluated and compared with the existing fixed sample size (FSS) SN chart for a finite horizon process. The charts' performances are compared using the truncated average run length (TARL) and truncated standard deviation of the run length (TSDRL) criteria. The results obtained show that the nonparametric VSS SN short run chart is always quicker than the FSS SN short run chart in detecting process shifts for various underlying process distributions, hence, reducing scrap and rework cost. Finally, an application of the proposed control charting scheme is shown through a real-life example on the fill volume of soft drink beverage bottles