A Midwest pharmaceutical company manufactures individual syringes with a self-contained, single dose of an injectable
drug.8 In the manufacturing process, sterile liquid drug is poured into glass syringes and sealed with a rubber stopper.
The remaining stage involves insertion of the cartridge into plastic syringes and the electrical "tacking" of the containment
cap at a precisely determined length of the syringe. A cap that is tacked at a shorter-than-desired length (less than 4.920
inches) leads to pressure on the cartridge stopper and, hence, partial or complete activation of the syringe. Such syringes must then be scrapped. If the cap is tacked at a longer-than-desired length (4.980 inches or longer), the tacking is
incomplete or inadequate, which can lead to cap loss and a potential cartridge loss in shipment and handling. Such
syringes can be reworked manually to attach the cap at a lower position. However, this process requires a 100%
inspection of the tacked syringes and results in increased cost for the items. This nal production step seemed to be
producing more and more scrap and reworked syringes over successive weeks. The
Excel le Syringe Samples provides samples taken every 15 minutes from the manufacturing process. Develop control
limits using the data and use statistical thinking ideas to draw conclusions