Tamkang Journal of Science and Engineering, Vol. 3, NO. 3, pp.

131-137 (2000)

131

Control Charts for Lognormal Data

Smiley W. Cheng and Hansheng Xie
Department of Statistics,
University of Manitoba,
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3T 2N2
E-mail: smiley_cheng@umanitoba.ca

Abstract
In dealing with positively-skewed distributed data, the direct
logarithmic transformation may result in a control chart with
inappropriate control parameters in the application of quality control.
When a specific interval for the lognormal mean is given, a new method
is introduced to set up two control charts and these two charts can
monitor a process for which the underlying distribution of the quality
characteristic is lognormal.
Key Words: lognormal distribution, control chart, quality control, mean,
variance, normal distribution

1. Introduction
Since many kinds of data in real life have a
positively-skewed distribution, the lognormal
distribution has been widely applied in many areas.
Morrison [2] first applied the lognormal
distribution to quality control, and proposed a
modified quality control scheme that can process
skewed data in the original scale of measurement
when the assumption of normality can not be made.
Ferrell [1] also suggested using this control scheme
for computing and plotting control charts when
data are from a badly skewed distribution which
can be approximated by a lognormal distribution.
Based on the basic relationship between
normal and lognormal distributions, Morrison
derived control limits for the lognormal variable
from the corresponding control limits for a normal
variable, using the exponential transformation.
However, because of the complexity of the
lognormal distribution, its application to quality
control cannot be referred to that of the normal
distribution by simply taking the direct
transformation, which may result in a control chart
with inappropriate control parameters.
For simplicity, in the following a lognormal
process refers to a process in which its
characteristic follows a lognormal distribution and
a normal process refers to a process in which its
characteristic follows a normal distribution.
In this article, quality control schemes for
lognormal
processes
based
on
direct
transformations,
either
the
exponential

transformation or the logarithmic transformation,

are critically examined, and a new quality control
scheme is proposed. To monitor a lognormal
process, the corresponding normal process is
obtained through the logarithmic transformation.
When it is given that the lognormal process mean
lies in a specific interval, then two control charts
are set up for the lognormal process. The control of
a complex lognormal process is simplified to that
of a normal process, for which good control
schemes are available and it is much easier to
implement. Properties of the new control charts are
discussed, and an example is given to illustrate the
implementation of the new charts.

2. The Direct Transformations

2.1 The Exponential Transformations
Suppose that Xij, i =1, 2, and j = 1,
2, , n represent the quality characteristic of a
process, follow a lognormal distribution with
parameters , and ; i.e., LN( , 2). Let Yij
= lnXij, then Yij, i =1, 2, and j = 1, 2, , n,
follow a normal distribution N( , 2), where
is the normal process mean and is the normal
process standard deviation.
In the modified quality control scheme
proposed by Morrison [2], the statistics for a
lognormal process and the corresponding 3
control limits can be obtained from the following
derivations. Notice that

Smiley W. Cheng and Hansheng Xie

132

&& E(Y
&& )
Y

3
P

Y&&

&& ) exp( + 3 && ) )

= P(exp( 3 Y&& ) exp(Y
Y

= P exp( 3 Y&& ) X i(1) X i(n) exp( + 3 Y&& )

(1)

&& is the sample midrange for a normal

where Y
process, and Xi(1) and Xi(n) are the minimum and
maximum of the ith sample, respectively.
Similarly,
R E(R )

i
3
P= i

Ri

= P (exp ((d 2 3d 3 ) ) exp(R i ) exp ((d 2 + 3d 3 ) ))

X
= P exp ((d 2 3d 3 ) ) i(n) exp ((d 2 + 3d 3 ) )

X i(1)

(2)
where Ri is the sample range for a normal process,
and d2 and d3 are control chart constants. Thus,
from (1), the geometric sample mean

X i (1) X i ( n )

is used as a measure of the lognormal process

mean and the exact control limits are
exp( 3 Y&& ) . With the available sample results,
the control limits are estimated by
m X

&& )r A 2 = X X 1 i(n)
exp(Y
(1)
(nm)

m i =1 X i(1)

A2

(3)
where X(1) and X(nm) are the minimum and
maximum in nm sample values for a lognormal
process, r is the average ratio of the maximum to
the minimum from m samples of size n for a
lognormal process, and A2 is a control chart
constant. Similarly, from (2), the sample ratio

X i(n )
is used as a measure of the lognormal
Xi (1)

process variability and the exact control limits are

exp[(d 2 3d 3 ) ] , which are estimated by

D3

1 m X i(n)

=
m i =1 X
i(1)

D3

1 m X i(n)

=
m i =1 X
i(1)

D4

(4)

and

r D4

where D3 and D4 are control chart constants.

From the derivations, it is seen that the incontrol probability of the derived statistics for a
lognormal process is the same as that for its normal
counterpart, but the control limits for lognormal
control charts are inaccurate. Because the control
parameters for lognormal and normal processes are
different, the direct exponential transformations
may not assure that the statistical state of a
lognormal process is the same as that of the
corresponding normal process. Morrison's chart
actually sets the target as the normal process mean,
and therefore a normal process is monitored
through its lognormal counterpart. Moreover,
because the parameter estimators of (3), (4) and (5)
resulting from the exponential transformation are
biased, the control charts neither have proper
probability nor proper 3-sigma control limits.
2.2 The Logarithmic Transformation
In statistical analysis, a logarithmic
transformation is often applied to a set of
positively-skewed
distributed
data
before
proceeding with the analysis. This approach works
well for usual statistical analysis. However, the
direct logarithmic transformation may result in a
control chart with inappropriate control parameters
in the application of quality control. Let * be the
lognormal process mean and * be the lognormal
process standard deviation. For a lognormal
process, it is of interest to control the parameters
* and * , while, for a normal process, and
are of interest. It can be shown that, for a
specified significance level , the control limits
for individual measurements of a lognormal
process is different from those of the
corresponding normal process. Without loss of
generality, assume that X ~ LN(0, 1), then Y =
ln(X) ~ N(0, 1). For = 0.0027, it follows from
P(

X *
> x0.00135) = 0.00135
*

that the upper percentile x0.00135 can be found as

x0.00135 = exp(3.5).
Hence, the upper control limit for the X chart is

UCL X = * + x 0.00135* =

exp(0.5) + exp(3.5) exp(1) 1 = 45.06

(5)

and ln(UCLX) = 3.81.

Control Charts for Lognormal Data

X (mn) X (1) a1 + a 2 .

The upper control limit for the Y chart is

UCL Y = + z 0.00135 = 3.00.

Hence, an interval for possible values of * is

Obviously, ln(UCLX) is not equal to UCLY

so that the direct logarithmic transformation may
result in a different control state for corresponding
normal process. Therefore, some restrictions have
to be given in order to guarantee the control state
of the corresponding process is equivalent to that
of the original lognormal process.

3. New Control Charts for Lognormal

Processes

3.1 A Specific Interval for the Lognormal

Process Mean

( *L , *U )

a 2 + X ij * a 1 + X ij
i = 1, 2, , m; j = 1, 2, , n

If specification limits are available, the upper and

lower specification limits can be used as *U and
*L , respectively.

The control parameters for a lognormal

process are * and * . The control parameters
for the corresponding normal process are and
. The parameters * and * are functions of
and given by

* = exp( + 0.52 )

(9)

2* = exp(2 + 2 )[exp( 2 ) 1] (10)

m preliminary samples collected from the incontrol process can be used to estimate 2 , i.e.,
as below:

U = ln( *U ) 0.5 2

(11)

L = ln( *L ) 0.5 2

(12)
2

and it is given for the process according to

technical specifications. It could be either a given
margin of error or specification limits for a single
measurement. The margin of error is given by

where a1 and a2 are known positive constants.

Equation (6) can be rewritten as

(7)
(8)

2 = S 2 . From (9), an interval for is obtained

Suppose that m samples are randomly drawn

from a lognormal process, and * is known to lie
in an interval:

i = 1, 2, , m; j = 1, 2, , n

*U = X(1) + a 1
*L = X(mn ) a 2

3.2 Derivation of Intervals for Parameters

It is difficult to directly construct a control

chart for a lognormal process since sampling
properties associated with the lognormal statistics
are not easy to derive. Making use of the
relationship between normal and lognormal
distributions and having been given a specific
interval for the lognormal mean of a lognormal
process, a new method is proposed to avoid the
complexity of the lognormal distribution. Two
control charts for lognormal distribution can be
constructed to monitor a lognormal process.

a 1 X ij * a 2

133

(6)

From (10), an interval for * is obtained as

below:

*2U = exp(2 U + 2 )[exp( 2 1]

(13)

2
*L

= exp(2 L + )[exp( 1]
2

(14)
Because normal distribution is symmetric
about mean, the target for the corresponding
normal process is

0 = 0.5( U + L ) = 0.5ln( *U *L ) 0.5 2

(15)
which implies that the target for the lognormal
process is the geometric mean of *U and *L ,
i.e., *0 =

*U *L .

which implies

X (mn) a 2 * X(1) + a 1

3.3 Constructing Control Charts for Lognormal

Processes

Smiley W. Cheng and Hansheng Xie

134

When m preliminary samples are taken from a

lognormal process, the logarithms of each
observation form the m initial samples of the
corresponding normal process. To determine
whether the process variability is stabilized, an S
chart can be set up with control limits:

UCL S =

2 4 S
n 1 c4
(16)

LCL S =

2 3 S
n 1 c4

(17)
where 3 and 4 are type-I error probabilities
for lower and upper tails respectively.
If all the standard deviations of these samples
plot inside the control limits, then the process
variability appears to be in control. Otherwise,
each of the out-of-control points for which
assignable causes can be found is discarded and the
control limits are recalculated. Then these control
limits can be used for controlling current or future
production and 2 is estimated from the formula

= S .
2

The percentiles for Y chart can be obtained by

setting

U 0 = z 2

(18)

L 0 = z 1

(19)
Then,

z 1 =

L 0

(20)

z 2 =

U 0

(21)
where 1 and 2 are type-I error probabilities
for lower and upper tails respectively.
A Y chart can be set up with the following
control limits:

CL Y = 0

(22)

UCL Y = 0 +

z 2

1
= (1
) 0 + U
n
n
n
(23)

LCL Y = 0 +

z 1
n

= (1

) 0 + L
n
n
(24)

4. Properties of the New Control Charts

When a specific interval for * is given, the
derivations of control limits for the control charts
monitoring the two related processes are reversible
and hence the statistical control state of the
lognormal process can refer to that of the
corresponding normal process. As a result, it is
necessary to study properties of the two control
charts for the normal process and effects of normal
parameter changes on the lognormal parameters.
4.1 The Calculations of the Average Run
Length (ARL)
2

Y ij ~ N( 0 , 0 )
Assume
that
independently, where i = 1, 2, , m; j = 1, 2, ,
n. Suppose that the normal process mean changes
from 0 to 0 + a 0 (a 0) and the normal
process standard deviation changes from 0 to

b 0 (b > 0).
The probability of type-II error for Y chart
can be computed from

Y = P(LCL Y Y UCL Y = 0 + a 0 ; = b 0 )
1

=
ln *U a n
2 0 *L

ln *U a n
2 0 *L

(25)
When a = 0, the probability of type I error for
Y chart is

Y = 1 Y = 2[

1
ln *U ]
2 0 *L

from which it is noted that Y

(26)
is a function of

*U

. To achieve a small Y , *U and 0 are

*L
*L

usually not larger for high precision products so

that the process variability has to be small, while,
0 is allowed to be a little bit large for medium or
low precision products.

Control Charts for Lognormal Data

The ARL's for Y chart can be easily

obtained from

1
ARL Y =
1 Y

(27)

When Y is fixed, ARL will decrease as a and n

increase.
The ARL's for S chart can be computed from

ARL S =

1
1 S

(28)

2 , n 1
2 , n 1
4
3

where
S = H
H
2
2
b
b
S = 3 + 4 .

and

4.2 Effects of Changes in Parameters

When there are changes in the normal process
mean and/or process variability, the lognormal
parameters will be changed to

1* = exp[ 0 + a 0 + 0.5(b 0 ) 2 ]
12* = exp[2( 0 + a 0 ) + (b 0 ) 2 ]
[exp((b 0 ) 2 ) 1]
where a 0 and b > 0.

135

5. Charting Procedure and Example

The steps to set up the two charts are
summarized below:
1. Determine the values of *U and *L .
(a) Use values provided by technical
specifications, or if not available,
(b) use *U and *L obtained from
preliminary data as follows:
if the overall range of the data is less
than or equal to a 1 + a 2 , calculate
*U and *L ; however, if the overall
range is greater than a 1 + a 2 , remove
the possible outliers X(nm), X(1), ,
until the overall range is less than or
equal to a 1 + a 2 , and then calculate
*U and *L .
2. Transform data using Y = ln(X).
3. Construct an S chart and estimate 2 by
2
S when the process variability is in
control.
2
2
4. Compute *U , *L , 0, *U and *L .
5. Construct a Y chart.
6. For a sample point that plots outside one of
2
the control limits, calculate *i and *i
2
using Y i as the estimate of and S i
2

Because the derivatives of 1* with respect

to a and b are

1*
= 0 1* > 0
a

(29)

1*
2
= b 0 1* > 0
b

(30)

Notice that 1* is a monotone increasing

function of a and b, and 1* can be written as a
monotone increasing function of 1* :

1* = 1* exp((b 0 )2 ) 1
2

(31)

since exp((b 0 ) ) 1 > 0. Then 1* is

also a monotone increasing function of a and b.
Thus, the direction of an out-of-control signal
from a lognormal process can be identified from
the corresponding normal process.

as the estimate of . Plot 'm+' or 'm'

against sample number if only *i > *U
or *i < *L ; plot 'v+' ' or 'v' against
sample number if only

*i > *U

or

*i < *L ; plot 'm+v+', 'm+v', 'mv+' or

'mv' against sample number according to
the sources and the directions of an out-ofcontrol signal.
7. Examine the assignable cause(s).
An example is given to illustrate how to apply
the new control scheme to lognormal distributed
data. The data, consisting of 34 samples of size 5,
are given in Table 1. The first 30 samples are taken
from Morrison [2], where it was stated that they
were collected from a process in the valves
industry. The last 4 samples are added to simulate
an out-of-control process. For the measurement of
individual values, the upper and lower
specification limits are 1 and 10.
A probability plot of the real data in Figure 1
suggests that the observations do not behave as
though arising from a normal distribution. To

136

Smiley W. Cheng and Hansheng Xie

adjust for non-normality, lognormal transformation

is applied to the original data. A probability plot of
the transformed data in Figure 2 shows that a
lognormal distribution curve can be fitted quite
well, suggesting that lognormal quality control
scheme should be employed in this case.
Suppose that the first 20 samples in Table 1
are used as preliminary samples. After applying
logarithmic transformation, an S chart is set up
with S = 0.0027 and it is shown in Figure 3.
When the 20 sample standard deviations are
plotted on this chart, there is no indication of an
out-of-control condition. Then 2 is estimated by
2
S = 0.1263.

mean shift on the first subsequence sample is

0.9236, and the probability of detecting the
variability change on the first subsequence sample
is 0.7398. Hence, the expected number of samples
taken before the shift is detected is 1.0827, and the
expected number of samples taken before the
change is detected is 1.3517. When the last
14sample means are plotted on the Y chart
shown in Figure 5 and the last 14 sample
standarddeviations are plotted on the S chart
shown in Figure 6 , it is seen that the last 4 points
are above at least one of the UCL's. This indicates
that the lognormal process is out of control with an
2
increase in * and * . To identify the sources of
these out-of-control signals, *i and *2i are
calculated. It is found that *31 and *33 are
2
2
2
greater than *U , and *32 , *33 and *34

Figure 1. The probability plot for the valve data

exceed *U , which is equal to 13.4651. This

diagnosis is supported by reference back to the
individual measurements of the last 4 samples,
since there are individuals exceeding *U in
sample 31 and 33 and greater variability within
sample 32, 33, and 34. It should be noted that, for
the last sample, only the lognormal process
variability is out of control although both of the
corresponding normal process mean and variability
are out of control.

Figure 2. The probability plot for the logarithm of

the valve data
Since z 1 = 3.0449 and z 2 = 3.0449, a

Y chart can be set up with Y = 0.0023 and it is

shown in Figure 4. When the 20 sample means are
plotted on this chart, there is also no indication of
an out-of-control condition. Since the S and Y
charts constructed using the first 20 samples
indicate that both the process variability and the
process mean are in control, the control limits
obtained can be used in on-line statistical process
control.
Assuming that there is a 2 0 shift in the
process mean and a 3 times change in the process
standard deviation, the probability of detecting the

Figure 3. The first S chart for the valve data

Control Charts for Lognormal Data

Table 1. Valve data

137

6. Conclusions
Our discussion shows that direct data
transformation methods may be inappropriate for
the control of a lognormal process if no constraints
are applied to the lognormal process. This clarifies
some confusion in lognormal quality control.
When a specific interval for the lognormal mean is
given, our new method enables the control of a
lognormal process through that of its normal
counterpart, avoiding the complexity of the
lognormal distribution. A detailed analysis of the
two new control charts is presented. In general, the
new control charts are applicable to a lognormal
process whenever a reasonable interval for the
lognormal mean can be found based on the nature
of the lognormal data.
Acknowledgment

Figure 4. The first Y-bar chart for the valve data

The research was partially supported by a

Nature Sciences and Engineering Research
Council, Canada grant. The first author would also
like to express the gratitude to the Department of
Statistics and Actuarial Science, University of
Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada for providing
facilities while he is on Administrative leave there.
References

Figure 5. The second S chart for the valve data

Figure 6. The second Y-bar chart for the valve data

[1] Ferrell, E. D., Control Charts for Lognormal

Universe, Industrial Quality Control, V. 15,
pp. 4-6 (1958).
[2] Morrison, J. , The Lognormal Distribution in
Quality Control, Applied Statistics, V. 7, pp.
160-172 (1958).
[3] Xie, H., Contributions to Qualimetry. Ph.D.
dissertation,
University
of
Manitoba,
Winnipeg, Canada, (1999).