To avoid the complexity of building mechanistic models by studying the inner nature of the object, a systematic method based on statistical pattern recognition is developed in order to estimate the product quality on-lipe. The mapping relationship between a feature space and a product quality space can be built by using regression analysis, and in applying clustering analysis the product quality space can be partitioned automatically. Eventually, estimating product quality on-line can be accomplished by sorting the mapped data in the partitioned quality space. A concrete problem is proposed which has a relatively small ratio of training data to input variables. By implementing the method mentioned above, a satisfying result has been achieved. Furthermore, the further question about choosing suitable mapping methods is briefly discussed.