Comparison

KensoBI and Minitab, honestly compared.

Minitab is the tool most quality engineers learned SPC on, and it is very good at what it does. If you are weighing it against us, start from which job you need doing. Plenty of teams end up running both.

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Minitab capabilities below are taken from Minitab's own published documentation

THE STUDY DOE Gage R&R Hypothesis tests Regression run once, reported THE WATCH On your network Your database Short-run charts 3D on the part never stops CONTROL CHARTS both do this

They are built for two different jobs

Minitab Statistical Software is a study tool. Minitab Real-Time SPC is their live monitoring product. KensoBI does monitoring only, and it runs somewhere different.

Where Minitab wins

Anything that is a study

Design of experiments, Gage R&R and measurement systems analysis, hypothesis testing, regression, reliability. If your work is project-based improvement, Minitab is the right tool and we would say so.

Where we overlap

The control chart itself

Both do variables and attribute charts, run rules and capability analysis on live data. If all you need is a control chart on a screen, either will do it. The decision comes down to where it runs and what else it can show you.

Where we win

Where it runs, and the part

Real-Time SPC is cloud software with its own data pipeline. KensoBI installs into Grafana on your own network, reads the measurement database you already have, and can show a measurement on the CAD geometry it came from.

Feature by feature

Compared against Minitab Real-Time SPC, their live monitoring product and the closest thing to what we do. Everything in the Minitab column comes from their published feature documentation.

Capability Minitab Real-Time SPC Cloud KensoBI Grafana plugins
Variables charts: I-MR, Xbar-R, Xbar-S, I-MR-R/S
Attribute charts: p, np, c, u, Laney p′ and u′
Run rules on every chart
Process capability analysis
Pareto analysis
Alerting and role-based access
Non-normal capability analysis
DOE, Gage R&R / MSA, hypothesis testing, regression
Runs on premise, or fully air-gapped
Reads your existing measurement database in place
Measurements shown on 3D CAD geometry
Short-run charts: DNOM and Z-MR
SPC on the same dashboard as OEE, machine and energy data
Open source core you can inspect and keep

Minitab® and Minitab Real-Time SPC™ are trademarks of Minitab, LLC. We are not affiliated with Minitab. Capabilities listed were taken from Minitab's published product documentation and may change. If you spot something out of date, tell us and we will correct it.

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When we are the wrong answer

Situations where Minitab is the better purchase.

  • Your day job is improvement projects. DOE and Gage R&R belong to Minitab
  • You need non-normal capability analysis, which we do not do
  • Your measurement data is genuinely only ever a few dozen points in a spreadsheet

When we are worth a look

Cases where the difference in approach changes the outcome.

  • Measurement data cannot leave your network, whether that is defence, aerospace or a customer contract that says so
  • You already run Grafana for machine, energy or OEE data and want quality on the same screens
  • High-mix, low-volume machining where short runs make standard charts useless
  • Dimensional work where a characteristic's position on the part usually explains the failure
  • You want to try it this afternoon without talking to anyone first

You can run both

Keep your Minitab licence for the studies. Install the free SPC panel alongside it, point it at your measurement table, and see what the process does between them.

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