Quality professionals apply a wide range of statistical methods in their work to implement Six Sigma and similar quality improvement programs, but they are often unfamiliar with – or even intimidated by – statistics and statistical software.

They may even be new to the whole idea of data-driven quality improvement and unsure of when and how statistical software can help.

A solution is a statistics package that contains the right methods, makes processes easy to understand and, helps users interpret their results.

By using Minitab’s new release – Minitab15 – quality professionals can gain a clear insight to their data analysis, helping them make successful business decisions that have a direct and lasting impression on their bottom line.

From Statistical Process Control to Expanded Gage R&R Capabilities, Minitab15 offers a comprehensive collection of methods with powerful customisable tools needed to implement each phase of your project.

The top five enhancements to Minitab15 are:

• First on the list is the ability to assign formulas to columns in the worksheet and have that column automatically update, when data in the worksheets change – a great time saver.
• Expanded Gage R&R Capabilities. Easily generate a data collection worksheet based on your specific Gage R&R study.
• Power (OC) curves for power and sample size. New graphs help you examine the prospective sample size, with the desired power and detection goal.
• Warranty Analysis. New reliability methods allow you to forecast future warranty claims or returns based on current warranty data.
• New currency and percentage formats for data. Minitab15 now displays currency and percentage, symbols on data in the Data Window, on graphs and output tables.

Minitab creates statistical software that provides quick, easy, and reliable results for people in both business and academe. Minitab Statistical Software offers data analysis solutions to users at all levels of statistical expertise.

This analysis tool offers accurate and customisable tools for quality control, DOE, reliability/survival analysis and general statistics. Customers include Ford Motor Company, 3M, Honeywell International, Samsung, and leading Six Sigma consultants.

Enter 58 or 'tick' at www.engineerlive.com/ede

Minitab Limited, Coventry, UK. www.minitab.co.uk