Contents 1. The governing idea 2. Key terminology, defined against the inspection problem 3. Principles 4. Case study: SECOM wafer screening 5. Quick reference 1. The governing idea A classifier does not make a decision. It produces a probability, and someone has to choose where to draw the line. That…
1. Classification predicts categories rather than continuous quantities. Regression asks “what strength?”, while classification can ask “PASS or FAIL?” 2. The class definition is an engineering decision. Our 110 kPa threshold created the PASS/FAIL labels. In a real project, that threshold needs a justified specification or decision basis. 3.…
Regression algorithms are tools used to predict continuous numerical values, like as prices, temperatures, or sales numbers, by learning the mathematical relationship between features and targets. A model that appears to work is easy to build. Most of the effort in credible machine learning goes into establishing whether the appearance…
Regression algorithms are tools used to predict continuous numerical values, like as prices, temperatures, or sales numbers, by learning the mathematical relationship between features and targets. The purpose of a first ML model is not to prove that ML works. It is to determine whether the available data contain enough…
A number means nothing without something to compare it against. Previous blogs were about interrogating data before modelling it. This one is about interrogating a result before believing it, and the tool for that is always a comparison: against a deliberately stupid model, against measurement uncertainty, against what a chart…
Ten dimensions, each scored 1–5 against defined anchors. Score a named dataset for a named use case, not a dataset in the abstract: the same historian tags may be ready for shift-level yield forecasting and hopelessly unready for per-part defect prediction. These feed into key data management…
The dataset is the deliverable that determines everything downstream. No model recovers from bad data, and almost every serious industrial ML failure is a data failure that was discovered too late. A model can learn a bad measurement just as easily as a good one. To evaluate how ready for…
Here's a template for an ML opportunity charter. This is done once the opportunity map leads us to decide which one is the first model to build; learn more here. Project title A clear working name. Manufacturing problem What currently happens, and why is it a problem? Decision…