The Boeing Company

Lindsay L W Jones

Kelsea Cox

Robert Michael Lawton

Emily O'Connor

Techniques for qualifying a candidate supplier are presented. Such techniques may include obtaining a part produced by a candidate supplier and measuring a quantifiable property in each of a plurality of samples to obtain an empirical data set. Such techniques may also include selecting, based on the empirical data set, and fitting to the empirical data set, an appropriate linear mixed model for the quantifiable property. Such techniques may further include computing an acceptance parameter from a mean and standard deviation obtained from the appropriate linear mixed model. The acceptance parameter may include a process capability index or a tolerance interval bound. Such techniques may further include determining that the candidate supplier qualifies based on comparing the acceptance parameter to a threshold.

Qualification of second-source raw materials in the presence of multiple batch effects

Techniques for qualifying for use in an overall manufacturing process items produced by a bulk manufacturing process that has a plurality of batch effects are presented. The techniques can include obtaining a collection of items produced by a bulk manufacturing process that has a plurality of batch effects; measuring a quantifiable property of a sample of items from the collection of items; developing a linear mixed model for the quantifiable property based on the measuring; determining a statistical process control standard deviation for the collection of items based on the linear mixed model; computing a statistical process control parameter from the statistical process control standard deviation; determining that at least a portion of the collection of items conform to the statistical process control parameter; accepting at least a portion of the collection of items; and using at least a portion of the collection of items in the overall manufacturing process.

Growing community of inventors

Madison, AL, United States of America

Lindsay L W Jones