ProcessorProductMonitoringandControl
6.2.TestProductforAcceptability:LotAcceptanceSampling
6.2.1. WhatisAcceptanceSampling?
Contributions
ofDodgeand
Romigto
acceptance
sampling
Acceptancesamplingisanimportantfieldofstatistical
qualitycontrolthatwaspopularizedbyDodgeandRomig
andoriginallyappliedbytheU.S.militarytothetestingof
bulletsduringWorldWarII.Ifeverybulletwastestedin
advance,nobulletswouldbelefttoship.If,ontheother
hand,noneweretested,malfunctionsmightoccurinthe
fieldofbattle,withpotentiallydisastrousresults.
Definintion
ofLot
Acceptance
Sampling
Dodgereasonedthatasampleshouldbepickedatrandom
fromthelot,andonthebasisofinformationthatwas
yieldedbythesample,adecisionshouldbemaderegarding
thedispositionofthelot.Ingeneral,thedecisioniseitherto
acceptorrejectthelot.ThisprocessiscalledLotAcceptance
SamplingorjustAcceptanceSampling.
"Attributes"
(i.e.,defect
counting)
willbe
assumed
Acceptancesamplingis"themiddleoftheroad"approach
betweennoinspectionand100%inspection.Therearetwo
majorclassificationsofacceptanceplans:byattributes("go,
nogo")andbyvariables.Theattributecaseisthemost
commonforacceptancesampling,andwillbeassumedfor
therestofthissection.
Important
point
Apointtorememberisthatthemainpurposeofacceptance
samplingistodecidewhetherornotthelotislikelytobe
acceptable,nottoestimatethequalityofthelot.
Scenarios
leadingto
acceptance
sampling
Acceptancesamplingisemployedwhenoneorseveralof
thefollowinghold:
Acceptance
Quality
Controland
Acceptance
Sampling
ItwaspointedoutbyHaroldDodgein1969thatAcceptance
QualityControlisnotthesameasAcceptanceSampling.
Thelatterdependsonspecificsamplingplans,whichwhen
implementedindicatetheconditionsforacceptanceor
rejectionoftheimmediatelotthatisbeinginspected.The
formermaybeimplementedintheformofanAcceptance
ControlChart.ThecontrollimitsfortheAcceptanceControl
Chartarecomputedusingthespecificationlimitsandthe
standarddeviationofwhatisbeingmonitored(seeRyan,
Testingisdestructive
Thecostof100%inspectionisveryhigh
100%inspectiontakestoolong
2000fordetails).
An
observation
byHarold
Dodge
In1942,Dodgestated:
"....basicallythe"acceptancequalitycontrol"systemthat
wasdevelopedencompassestheconceptofprotectingthe
consumerfromgettingunacceptabledefectiveproduct,and
encouragingtheproducerintheuseofprocessquality
controlby:varyingthequantityandseverityofacceptance
inspectionsindirectrelationtotheimportanceofthe
characteristicsinspected,andintheinverserelationtothe
goodnessofthequalitylevelasindicationbythose
inspections."
Toreiteratethedifferenceinthesetwoapproaches:
acceptancesamplingplansareoneshotdeals,which
essentiallytestshortruneffects.Qualitycontrolisofthe
longrunvariety,andispartofawelldesignedsystemfor
lotacceptance.
An
observation
byEd
Schilling
Schilling(1989)said:
Controlof
product
qualityusing
acceptance
control
charts
AccordingtotheISOstandardonacceptancecontrolcharts
(ISO7966,1993),anacceptancecontrolchartcombines
considerationofcontrolimplicationswithelementsof
acceptancesampling.Itisanappropriatetoolforhelpingto
makedecisionswithrespecttoprocessacceptance.The
differencebetweenacceptancesamplingapproachesand
acceptancecontrolchartsistheemphasisonprocess
acceptabilityratherthanonproductdispositiondecisions.
"Anindividualsamplingplanhasmuchtheeffectofalone
sniper,whilethesamplingplanschemecanprovidea
fusilladeinthebattleforqualityimprovement."