The role of statistics in business and industry

PART I. SETTING THE STAGE Chapter 1. Statistics: an overview About this chapter What is statistics? Areas of application Statistical literacy Better decisions require better data Statistical thinking Related disciplines Major take-aways Discussion questions Chapter 2. Statistics in Business and Industry About this chapter Evolution of statistics for manufactured product applications Applications beyond manufactured products Forces impacting the use of statistics today Major take-aways Discussion questions

PART II. MANUFACTURED PRODUCT APPLICATIONS Chapter 3. Product Design: Concepts About this chapter The product design process Ensuring measurement capability Design and development Design validation Transition to manufacturing Major take-aways Discussion questions Chapter 4. Product Design: Example About this chapter Thermoplastic resin for child car seat: introduction Some basic elements of plastic part design and manufacture Setting the design goals Ensuring measurement capability Design and development Design validation Transition to manufacturing Major take-aways Discussion Questions Chapter 5. Product Reliability Assurance About this chapter The key role of reliability Design for reliability: the need The process and the participants Setting reliability goals Reliability evaluation of a conceptual design Product reliability development Reliability validation Product safety Reliability growth analysis Product burn-in Software reliability Further reading Major take-aways Appendix: product life distributions and concepts Discussion questions Chapter 6. Manufacturing Quality Improvement: Concepts About this chapter The Need for manufacturing quality improvement Different industries Considerations in manufacturing quality improvement Disciplined approaches to manufacturing quality improvement Quality assessment and improvement Statistical monitoring Major take-aways Discussion questions Chapter 7. Manufacturing Quality Improvement: Example About this chapter Generator stator bar example Manufacturing capability and stability assessment Addressing measurement error Reducing deviations from target and variability Statistical monitoring Discussion questions Chapter 8. Product Manufacturing: Further Applications About this chapter Integrating engineering processs control and statistical process control Polymer resin example Materials and parts quality assurance Final product assessment Productivity improvement Major take-aways Discussion Questions Chapter 9. Product Field Support About this chapter Reliability data tracking Reliability data tracking for non-repairable products Reliability data tracking for repairable products Planning the failure reporting system A note on product safety Tracking customer satisfaction Competitive evaluations and advertising claims Proactive product servicing Major take-aways Discussion questions

PART III. OTHER APPLICATIONS. Chapter 10. Pharmaceutical Products

About this chapter

Drug development: process overview

The role of a pharmaceutical statistician: an overview

Pre-clinical studies

Clinical studies

Case study: phase 2 clinical trial

Regulatory review

Some other applications

Some statistical tools used in pharmaceutical applications

Sources of further information

Major take-aways

Discussion questions

Chapter 11. Financial Services

About this chapter

Financial services and its uncertainties

Credit scoring for consumer loan approval

Credit scoring example

Model development and implementation: some important nitty-gritties

Modeling in credit management: a broader look

Specific application areas

Statisticians in financial services

Further reading

Major take-aways

Discussion questions

Chapter 12. Business Processes

About this chapter

Business processes

Example: improving the loan decision process for a business equipment financing company

Steps for process improvement

Another example: improving the skip tracing process

Some further concepts and methods

Operations research and management science

Major take-aways

Discussion questions

Chapter 13. Further Applications

About this chapter

Food, beverage and related industries

Semiconductor industry

Communications industry

Statistical image analysis for medical, security and other applications

Other application areas

Emerging areas: a glance into the future

Major take-away

Discussion questions.