A device and technique for monitoring the quality of a manufacturing
process, a resulting part or both includes determining a cumulative
deviation of an actual process signature from an expected signature. A
disclosed example includes determining a quantitative value of a
difference between the signatures at each of a plurality of corresponding
segments of the signatures. A cumulative deviation based upon deviations
of the corresponding segments provides an indication of quality. A
disclosed example includes determining a negative cumulative deviation, a
positive cumulative deviation and a total cumulative deviation, each of
which may be used independently for analysis purposes.