Final answer:
The hospital laundry's process capability index, or Cpk, is a statistical measure indicating how well a laundry process produces output within specified limits. A higher Cpk value suggests a more capable and consistent process. It involves calculations using the process mean and standard deviation relative to the specification limits.
Step-by-step explanation:
The hospital laundry's process capability index, or Cpk, is a statistical measure of a process's ability to produce output within specified limits. It compares the width of a process's specification range to the width of the process variability, and incorporates the process mean into the calculation to see how center the process is within the range. A higher Cpk value indicates a more capable process that has outputs falling within the acceptable range more consistently.
To calculate the process capability index, you would typically follow these steps:
- Determine the upper and lower specification limits (USL and LSL) for the laundry process.
- Calculate the process mean (μ) and standard deviation (σ).
- Use the formula Cpk = min[(USL - μ) / (3σ), (μ - LSL) / (3σ)], to find the minimum of either the capability of the process to produce within the upper limit (USL - μ) / (3σ), or the lower limit (μ - LSL) / (3σ).
A Cpk of 1.33 or higher is often considered good, indicating the process is statistically capable or 'Six Sigma', meaning the likelihood of producing an item outside the specs is very low. However, in hospital laundry services, where hygiene and cleanliness are critical, an even higher Cpk might be required to ensure compliance with health and safety standards.