Non‐Normality and the Design of Control Charts for Averages*

ABSTRACT Non‐normality has a significant effect on the performance of control charts for averages. The design considerations for a control chart for averages must include recognition of the degree of non‐normality of the underlying data. The performance of a control chart may be judged on its ability to correctly identify the probabilities of assignable causes of variation and chance causes of variation in a process. This paper examines the effects of non‐normality, as measured by skewness and kurtosis, on the performance, and hence the design, of control charts for averages and provides an alternative method of designing charts for averages of data with non‐normal distributions.