Unless one of our technicians provided training to you and your staff, it is very possible you are unaware of the GainSeeker Variation Wizard.  For this reason, I would like to focus on the SPC version of our Variation Wizard this month.  The Variation Wizard is just one of the many analysis tools incorporated into our GainSeeker Charts.

Control Charts

GainSeeker Control ChartImagine this: You pull up a control chart and it looks something like the chart to the right.  When looking at the chart you think there is some kind of pattern here, but what?  Control Charts by default, display the data points in date/time order and it can be difficult to quickly determine what might be going on.   Many customers at this point would tell me, “No worries Jen, I’ll right-click and use the Group Data feature.  I’ll keep grouping by the different traceabilities until I find the pattern!”

While the Group Data feature is a powerful and useful tool, in this situation the Variation Wizard finds the greatest source of variation within a few simple clicks of the mouse. As a matter of fact, why don’t I take this example and walk you through it step by step.

The Variation Wizard Process

  1. Right-click on the Control Chart and choose Start Variation Wizard. GainSeeker - Start Variation WizardYou are now on Step 1 of 2 of the Wizard. By default all your traceability should be selected and you can click the Next button. (Note: You can choose 2 levels of ranking. For more information on this topic click the Help button located on the screen). GainSeeker Suite - Variation Wizard
  2. Immediately after clicking the Next button you are on Step 2 of 2. This screen shows you the ranking of the significant difference (spread & mean) of grouping the data by all the traceability selected in step 1. GainSeeker Suite - Variation Wizard Results
  3. Select Cavity and click on the Chart button.

Look at the Control Chart now. The new Control Chart displays the data grouped by cavity thus demonstrating that the same data grouped differently can show an entirely different story. GainSeeker Suite Variation Wizard isolates sources of variationStill  have a question?  Use our Ask an Expert page. If you do not have GainSeeker yet I would urge you to schedule a demo!  Oh, and do not forget to tell them that Jen sent ya.