Statistical Quality

Control
Dr. Nasrullah Khan
 Acceptance Sampling Defined
• Acceptance Sampling is a form of inspection that is used to determine
whether or not goods are coherent with a set standard of quality
 Types of Standard sampling plans
• There are two types of sampling plans according to standards
• Military Standard Sampling plan : MIL STD 105E has an acceptable
quality level (AQL) focus,
• Dodge–Romig: plans are oriented around either the lot tolerance percent
defective (LTPD) or the average outgoing quality limit perspective
 When is Acceptance Sampling useful?
• When product testing is
• destructive
• expensive
• time consuming

• When developing new products

 Three aspects of sampling are important:
• 1. It is the purpose of acceptance sampling to sentence lots, not to
estimate the lot quality. Most acceptance-sampling plans are not designed for
estimation purposes.
• 2. Acceptance-sampling plans do not provide any direct form of quality control.
Acceptance sampling simply accepts and rejects lots. Even if all lots are of the same
quality, sampling will accept some lots and reject others, the accepted lots being no
better than the rejected ones. Process controls are used to control and systematically
improve quality, but acceptance sampling is not.
• 3. The most effective use of acceptance sampling is not to “inspect quality into the
product,” but rather as an audit tool to ensure that the output of a process conforms
to requirements.
 When is Acceptance Sampling useful?
1. When testing is destructive
2. When the cost of 100% inspection is extremely high
3. When 100% inspection is not technologically feasible or would require so much calendar time
that production scheduling would be seriously impacted
4. When there are many items to be inspected and the inspection error rate is sufficiently high
that 100% inspection might cause a higher percentage of defective units to be passed than would
occur with the use of a sampling plan
5. When the supplier has an excellent quality history, and some reduction in inspection from
100% is desired, but the supplier’s process capability is sufficiently low as to make no inspection
an unsatisfactory alternative
6. When there are potentially serious product liability risks, and although the supplier’s process is
satisfactory, a program for continuously monitoring the product is necessary
 Three approaches of Lot Sentencing
• Accept with no inspection
• 100% inspection
• Acceptance sampling
 Advantages of Acceptance sampling
1. Less expensive due to less inspection.
2. Less handling reduced damage.
3. Applicable to destructive testing.
4. Fewer personnel are involved in inspection activities.
5. Reduces the amount of inspection error.
6. The rejection of entire lots as opposed to the simple return of
defectives often provides a stronger motivation to the supplier for
quality improvements
 Disadvantages of Acceptance sampling
1. There are risks of accepting “bad” lots and rejecting “good” lots.
2. Less information is usually generated about the product or about the
process that manufactured the product.
3. Acceptance sampling requires planning and documentation of the
acceptance-sampling procedure whereas 100% inspection does not.
 Types of Sampling Plan
• Variable Sampling Plan
The desired quality characteristic can be measured numericall
• Attribute Sampling Plan
The desired quality characteristic can not be measured numerically
 Risks of Acceptance Sampling
• Producers Risk
• The risk associated with a producer rejecting a lot of materials that actually have good
quality
• Also referred to
as a Type I Error
 Risks of Acceptance Sampling
• Consumers Risk
• The risk associated with a consumer accepting a lot of materials that actually have poor
quality Also referred to as a Type II Error
 Acceptance Sampling

• Acceptance sampling is a process that helps to determine whether to accept

or reject the sample being observed
When can acceptance sampling be applied?
• At any point in production
• The output of one stage is the input of the next
When can acceptance sampling be applied?
• Sampling at the Input stage
• Prevents goods that don’t meet standards from entering into the process
• This saves rework time and money
When can acceptance sampling be applied?
• Sampling at the Output stage
• Can reduce the risk of bad quality being passed on from the process to a consumer

• This can prevent the loss of prestige, customers, and money

When can acceptance sampling be applied?
• Sampling at the Process stage
• Can help adjust the process and reduce the amount of poor quality in production
• Helps to determine the source of bad production and enables return for reprocessing
before any further costs may be incurred
 Typical Application of Acceptance Sampling

• A vendor delivers a product to a manufacturing company

• The product is a raw
material used by the
company
 Typical Application of Acceptance Sampling

• A sample of the shipment is taken

• Quality characteristics of the units in the sample are inspected.
 Typical Application of Acceptance Sampling

• Based on the observations made, the decision is made to either accept or

reject the entire shipment
 Typical Application of Acceptance Sampling

• The decision to accept or reject the shipment is based on the following set
standards:
• Lot size = N
• Sample size = n
• Acceptance number = c
• Defective items = d
• If d <= c, accept lot
• If d > c, reject lot
 Quality and Risk Decisions
• Acceptable quality level (AQL) is the quality level desired by the consumer
Producer’s risk () is the probability that a shipment having
exactly this level of quality will be rejected
 Rejecting a good (AQL) lot is a type I error
 Consumers also desire low producer’s risk because sending good
materials back to the supplier disrupts the consumer’s production
processes
 Most often the producer’s risk is set at 0.05, or 5 percent
 Quality and Risk Decisions
• Lot tolerance proportion defective (LTPD), the worst level the customer can
tolerate

Consumer’s risk, ( ) is the probability a shipment having

exactly this level of quality (the LTPD) will be accepted
 Accepting a bad (LTPD) lot is a type II error
A common value for the consumer’s risk is 0.10, or 10 percent
 Single-Sampling Plans
 States the sample size, n, and the acceptable number of defectives, c
 The accept-reject decision is based on the results of one sample taken at random from a large
lot
 If the quality characteristic of the sample passes the test (defects ≤ c), accept the lot
 If the sample fails (defects > c) there may be complete inspection of the lot or the entire lot is
rejected
 A good lot could be rejected if the sample includes an unusually large number of
defects
 A bad lot could be accepted if the quality in the sample is better than in the lot
 Operating Characteristic Curve
• Perfect discrimination between good and bad lots requires 100% inspection
• Select sample size n and acceptance number c to achieve the level of performance
specified by the AQL, , LTPD, and 
• Drawing the OC curve
• The OC curve shows the probability of accepting a lot Pa, as a dependent function
of p, the true proportion of defectives in the lot
• For every possible combination of n and c, there exists a unique operating
characteristics curve
Operating Characteristic Curve
 Single Sampling Plan
• The probability of observing the d defective is

• The lot acceptance probability is the probability if less than d defective are
observed
Single Sampling Plan
Designing of Single Sampling Plan
 Double Sampling Plan

Two sample sizes, (n1 and n2), and two acceptance

numbers (c1 and c2)
Take a random sample of relatively small size n1,
from a large lot
If the sample passes the test (≤ c1), accept the lot
If the sample fails (> c2), the entire lot is rejected
If the sample is between c1 and c2, then take a
larger second random sample, n2
If the combined number of defects ≤ c2 accept the
THANKS