Statistical Sciences ARES: Bill Woodall

Join us at the Statistical Sciences Applied Research and Education Seminar (ARES) with

Bill Woodall

Professor Emeritus
Department of Statistics
Virginia Tech

Free Hybrid (In-person/Online) Event | Registration Required

Talk Title

Walter A. Shewhart and 100 Years of the Control Chart 

Abstract

This presentation provides a relatively non-technical overview of some of the ideas of Walter A. Shewhart (1891-1967) and the development of statistical process monitoring methods from their introduction by Shewhart in the Industry 2.0 era to the challenges now faced in Industry 4.0. Monitoring methods have been adapted and extended over time to reflect increases in the amount of available data, changes in data structure and characteristics, and increases in computing power. An application is described involving the monitoring of surgical outcomes. It is argued that it is increasingly the case in practice that monitoring methods should be desensitized, counter to the prevailing research quest for steadily increasing sensitivity in detecting any process change however small it may be. Some current research directions will be discussed along with ideas for future work.

Speaker Profile

William H. Woodall received a B.S. in mathematics from Millsaps College and a M.S. and Ph.D. in statistics from Virginia Tech.  He is currently a Professor Emeritus of Statistics at Virginia Tech. He is a former editor of the Journal of Quality Technology (2001–2003), Associate Editor of Technometrics (1987–1995; 2013) and now Editor-elect for Quality Engineering. He has published 180 papers, most on aspects of process monitoring and health-related surveillance. He is the recipient of the ASQ Shewhart Medal (2002), ENBIS Box Medal (2012), William G. Hunter Award (2019), Jack Youden Prize (1995, 2003), ASQ Brumbaugh Award (2000, 2006), Ellis Ott Foundation Award (1987), Soren Bisgaard Award (2012), Lloyd S. Nelson Award (2014), and a best paper award from IIE Transactions on Quality and Reliability Engineering (1997). He is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association, a Fellow of the American Society for Quality, and an elected member of the International Statistical Institute.