Qualitative reasoning is a fairly well established field in the domain of artificial intelligence, qualitative reasoning, qualitative process theory and qualitative simulation, however, it has not considered parameters over a range of values (interval). This research considers the use of qualitative reasoning in manufacturing process diagnostics for quality control purposes. A framework which uses: (1) envisioning process, (2) confluences and (3) interval mathematics, will be investigated. The approach is illustrated through a real life manufacturing process. This scheme, when generalized will result: (1) in a theory for implementing qualitative reasoning in manufacturing process diagnostics and (2) in a computer shell that can be used for any continuous manufacturing process diagnostics and control.
