Moving average chart

A type of time-weighted control chart that plots the unweighted moving average over time for individual observations. This chart uses control limits (UCL and LCL) to determine when an out-of-control situation has occurred. Moving average (MA) charts are more effective than Xbar charts in detecting small process shifts, and are particularly useful when there is only 1 observation per subgroup. However, EWMA charts are generally preferred over MA charts because they weight the observations.

For example, a manufacturer of centrifuge rotors wants to track the diameter of all rotors produced during a week. The diameters must be close to the target because even small shifts cause problems. The following moving average chart resulted.

Moving Average Chart

 

The points appear to vary randomly around the center line and are within the control limits; however, there are two points that come close to the control limit that you may want to investigate.  

 

The observations can be either individual measurements or subgroup means. Moving averages are calculated from artificial subgroups that are created from consecutive observations.