ASSIGNMENT

Course Code : MS - 5
Course Title : Management of Machine & Materials
Assignment Code : MS-57/SEM - II/2010
Coverage : All Blocks

Note: Please attempt all the questions and send them to the Coordinator of the Study Centre you
are attached with.

Shared by Disha Mathur & Ritu Mirchandani

( This document is taken from http://en.allexperts.com some extra editions have been done
by our classmates)

1) Discuss the Linkage among the volume, variety, Production System and Plant
Layout. Elaborate your understanding about assembly line balancing.
Volume is how much three-dimensional space a substance (solid, liquid, gas,
or plasma) or shape occupies or contains,[1] often quantified numerically using the SI
derived unit, the cubic metre. The volume of a container is generally understood to be the
capacity of the container, i. e. the amount of fluid (gas or liquid) that the container could
hold, rather than the amount of space the container itself displaces. The volume of a solid
(whether regularly or irregularly shaped) can be determined by fluid displacement.
Displacement of liquid can also be used to determine the volume of a gas. The combined
volume of two substances is usually greater than the volume of one of the substances.

However, sometimes one substance dissolves in the other and the combined volume is
not additive.
Variety is a weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New
York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture
industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by
Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the Daily Variety Gotham edition, based in New York City
was added. All three have been in continual operation since.The magazine is owned by
Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier, with three print editions and a
website. For twenty years its editor-in-chief was Peter Bart, who worked previously at
Paramount Pictures and The New York Times. In April 2009, it was announced that Bart
was moving to the position of "vice president and editorial director", characterised online
as "Boffo No More: Bart Up and Out at Variety". The current editor is Timothy M. Gray
A production system (or production rule system) is a computer program typically used
to provide some form of artificial intelligence, which consists primarily of a set of rules
about behavior. These rules, termed productions, are a basic representation found useful
in automated planning, expert systems and action selection. A production system
provides the mechanism necessary to execute productions in order to achieve some goal
for the system. Productions consist of two parts: a sensory precondition (or "IF"
statement) and an action (or "THEN"). If a production's precondition matches the current
state of the world, then the production is said to be triggered. If a production's action is
executed, it is said to have fired. A production system also contains a database,
sometimes called working memory, which maintains data about current state or
knowledge, and a rule interpreter. The rule interpreter must provide a mechanism for
prioritizing productions when more than one is triggered.
Plant Layout is the economic construction and operation of a process unit will depend
on how well the plant equipment specified on the process flow sheet and laid out.
The principal factors to be considered are:
1. Economic consideration: construction and operation cost.
2. The process requirement
3. Convenience of operation
4. convenience of maintenance
5. Safety
6. Future expansion
7. Modular construction
COSTS:
The cost of construction can be minimized by adopting a layout that gives shortest run of
connecting pipes between equipment, and adopting the least amount of structural steel
work. However, this will not necessarily be the best arrangement for operation and
maintenance.
PROCESS REQUIREMENT:
All the required equipments have to be placed properly within process. Even the
installation of the auxiliaries should be done in such a way that it will occupy the least
space.
OPERATION
Equipment that needs to have frequent operation should be locate Convenient to the
control room. Valves, sample points, and instruments should be located at convenient
position and height. Sufficient working space and headroom must be provided to allow
easy access to equipment.
MAINTENANCE
Heat exchangers need to be sited so that the tube bundles can be easily withdrawn for
cleaning and tube replacement. Vessels that require frequent replacement of catalyst or
packing should be located on the outside of buildings. Equipment that requires
dismantling for maintenance, such as compressors and large pumps, should be placed
under cover.
SAFETY
Blast walls may be needed to isolate potentially hazardous equipment, and confine the
effects of an explosion. At least two escape routes for operator must be provided from
each level in the process building.
PLANT EXPANSION
Equipment should be located so that it can be conveniently tied in with any future
expansion of the process. Space should be left on pipe alleys for future needs, service
pipes oversized to allow for future requirements.
MODULAR CONSTRUCTION:
In recent years, there has been a move to assemble sections of the plant at the
manufacturer site. These modules will include the equipment, structural steel, piping and
instrumentation. The modules then transported to the plant site, by road or sea.

2) Define value engineering & analysis. Discuss briefly the various approaches
for VE and VA.
Solution :
Value Engineering is a systematic method to improve the "Value" of goods and
services by using an examination of function. Value, as defined, is the ratio of Function
to Cost. Value can therefore be increased by either improving the Function or reducing
the cost. It is a primary tenet of Value Engineering that basic functions be preserved and
not be reduced as a consequence of pursuing Value improvements. Value Engineering is
a body of knowledge as a technique in which the value of a system's outputs is optimized
by crafting a mix of performance (Function) and costs. In most cases this practice
identifies and removes unnecessary expenditures, thereby increasing the value for the
manufacturer and/or their customers. Value Engineering uses rational logic (a unique
"how" - "why" questioning technique) and the analysis of Function to identify
relationships that increase Value. It is considered a quantitative method similar to the
Scientific Method, which focuses on Hypothesis - Conclusion to test relationships, and
Operations Research, which uses model building to identify predictive relationships.
VALUE ANALYSIS -- The Job Plan
Value Engineering is often done by systematically following a multi-stage Job Plan. IT IS
a 8-step procedure , called the Value Analysis Job Plan. Others have varied the Job Plan
to fit their constraints. One modern version has the following eight steps:
PREPARATION
INFORMATION
ANALYSIS
CREATION
EVALUATION
DEVELOPMENT
PRESENTATION
FOLLOW-UP
Four basic steps in the VALUE ANALYSIS Job Plan are:
Information gathering - This asks what the requirements are for the object. Function
analysis, an important technique in value engineering, is usually done in this initial stage.
It tries to determine what functions or performance characteristics are important. It asks
questions like; What does the object do? What must it do? What should it do? What could
it do? What must it not do?
Alternative generation (Creation) - In this stage value engineers ask; What are the various
alternative ways of meeting requirements? What else will perform the desired function?
Evaluation - In this stage all the alternatives are assessed by evaluating how well they
meet the required functions and how great will the cost savings be.
Presentation - In the final stage, the best alternative will be chosen and presented to the
client for final decision.
Value engineering is an approach to productivity improvement that attempts to increase
the value obtained by a customer of a product by offering the same level of functionality
at a lower cost.
Value engineering is sometimes used to apply to this process of cost reduction prior to
manufacture, while "value analysis" applies the process to products currently being
manufactured. Both attempt to eliminate costs that do not contribute to the value and
performance of the product (or service, but the approach is more common in
manufacturing). Value engineering, thus, critically examines the contribution made to
product value by each feature of a design. It then looks to deliver the same contribution at
lower cost. Different types of value are recognized by the approach :
Use value relates to the attributes of a product which enable it to perform its function.
Cost value is the total cost of producing the product.
Esteem value is the additional premium price which a product can attract because of its
intrinsic attractiveness to purchasers.
Exchange value is the sum of the attributes which enable the product to be exchanged or
sold. Although the relative magnitude of these different types of value will vary between
products, and perhaps over the life of a product, VE attempts to identify the contribution
of each feature to each type of value through systematic analysis and structured creativity
enhancing techniques. Value engineering programs are best delivered by multi-skilled
teams consisting of designers, purchasing specialists, operations personnel, and financial
analysts. Pareto analysis is often used to prioritise those parts of the total design that are
most worthy of attention. These are then subject to rigorous scrutiny. The team analyses
the function and cost of those elements and tries to find any similar components that
could do the same job at lower cost.
Common results are a reduction in the number of components, the use of cheaper
materials, or a simplification of the process
VALUE ENGINEERING CAN BE APPLIED TO ANY MANUFACTURING,
HERE IS AN EXAMPLE OF TRACTOR MANUFACTURING
FIRM IN THE FOLLOWING AREAS

1.TRACTOR DESIGN
-make the design simple
- easy to use
-reduce COMPLICATED / expensive parts.
2.TRACTORS RAW MATERIAL / PARTS PROCUREMENT
-establish the demand planning system [ reduce the fluctuations in production]
-establish the inventories of raw materials [ reduce the cost of stock holding]
-establish the economic order quantity
3. TRACTORS PRODUCTION PLANNING
-establish an effective / efficient production planning system [ cost savings]
4.TRACTORS PRODUCTION
-establish a lean production [ cost effective]
5. TRACTORS TOTAL QUALITY ASSURANCE.
-set up quality assurance system to reduce quality problems/ rejections]
6.TRACTORS FINISHED GOOD INVENTORY
-match the finished stock inventory to market demand / sales requirements]
[ cost saving in stock holding ]
7.TRACTORS CUSTOMER SERVICE
-provide effective customer order processing/order service/
timely despatch to customers.
[ adds value to customers / reduces distribution cost]
8.TRACTORS AFTER SALES SERVICE
-offer warranty/ after sales service to customers
[ adds value to the product and increases sales ]

3) List the important factors that must be addressed in job design and briefly
discuss the importance of each one.
Solution:
JOB DESIGN is the process of putting together various elements to form a
job, bearing in mind organizational and individual worker requirements, as well as
considerations of health, safety, and ergonomics. The scientific management approach of
Frederick Winslow Taylor viewed job design as purely mechanistic, but the later human
relations movement rediscovered the importance of workers' relationship to their work
and stressed the importance of job satisfaction. Job design refers to the way that a set of
tasks, or an entire job, is organized. Job design helps to determine. It takes into account
all factors which affect the work, and organizes the content and tasks so that the whole
job is less likely to be a risk to the employee. Job design involves administrative areas
such as: job rotation, job enlargement, task/machine pacing, work breaks, and working
hours. A well designed job will encourage a variety of 'good' body positions, have
reasonable strength requirements, require a reasonable amount of mental activity, and
help foster feelings of achievement and self-esteem.
Management viewed job design since the industrial revolution in the approaches to Job
Design USING SOCIO TECHNICAL SYSTEMS There are three important approaches
to job design, viz., Engineering approach, Human approach and The Job characteristic
approach. Engineering Approach
The most important single element in the Engineering approaches, proposed by FW
Taylor and others, was the task idea, "The work of every workman is fully planned out by
the management at least one day in advance and each man receives in most cases
complete written instructions, describing in detail the task which he is to accomplish . . .
This task specifies not only what is to be done but how it is to be done and the exact time
allowed for doing it." The principles offered by scientific management to job design can
be summarized thus:
l Work should be scientifically studied. As advocated fragmentation and reutilization of
work to reap the advantages of specialization.
l Work should be arranged so that workers can be efficient.
l Employees selected for work should be matched to the demands of the job.
l Employees should be trained to perform the job.
l Monetary compensation should be used to reward successful performance of the job.
These principles to job design seem to be quite rational and appealing because they point
towards increased organisational performance. Specialisation and routinisation over a
period of time result in job incumbents becoming experts rather quickly, leading to higher
levels of output. Despite the assumed gains in efficiency, behavioural scientists have
found that some job incumbents dislike specialised and routine jobs.
Human Relations Approach
The human relations approach recognised the need to design jobs in an interesting
manner. In the past two decades much work has been directed to changing jobs so that
job incumbents can satisfy their needs for growth, recognition and responsibilility,
enhancing need satisfaction through what is called job enrichment. One widely publicised
approach to job enrichment uses what is called job characteristics model and this has
been explained separately in the ensuing section.
Two types of factors, viz. (i) motivators like achievements, recognition, work itself,
responsibility, advancement and growth and (ii) hygiene factors (which merely maintain
the employee on the job and in the organization) like working conditions, organisational
policies, inter-personnel relations, pay and job security. The employee is dissatisfied with
the job if maintenance factors to the required degree are not introduced into the job. But,
the employee may not be satisfied even if the required maintenance factors are provided.
The employee will be satisfied with his job and he will be more productive if motivators
are introduced into the job content. As such, he asserts that the job designer has to
introduce hygienic factors adequately to reduce dissatisfaction and build motivating
factors. Thus, THE emphasis is on the psychological needs of the employees in designing
jobs.
The Job Characteristics Approach
The Job Characteristics Theory states that employees will work hard when they are
rewarded for the work they do and when the work gives them satisfaction. Hence, they
suggest that motivation, satisfaction and performance should be integrated in the job
design. According to this approach, any job can be described in terms of five core job
dimensions which are defined as follows:
(a) Skill variety: The degree to which the job requires that workers use a variety of
different activities, talents and skills in order to successfully complete the job
requirements.
(b) Task identity: The degree to which the job allows workers to complete whole tasks
from start to finish, rather than disjointed portions of the job.
(c) Task significance: The degree to which the job significantly impacts the lives of
others both within and outside the workplace.
(d) Autonomy: The degree to which the job allows workers freedom in planning and
scheduling and the methods used to complete the job.
(e) Feedback: The degree to which the job itself provides workers with clear, direct and
understandable knowledge of their performance.
All of the job dimensions impact workers psychologically. The first three dimensions
affect whether or not workers view their job as meaningful. Autonomy determines the
extent of responsibility workers feel. Feedback allows for feelings of satisfaction for a job
well done by providing knowledge of results.
The core job dimensions can be combined into a single predictive index called the
Motivating Potential Score. Its computation is as follows:
Motivating Skill variety + Task identity + Task significance
potential = x Autonomy x Feedback
score.
Jobs that are high on motivating potential must be high at least in one of the three factors
that lead to meaningful work and must be high in both autonomy and feedback and vice
versa. These three critical psychological states lead to the outcome such as (a) high
internal work motivation, (b) high growth satisfaction, (c) high quality work
performance, (d) high general job satisfaction, (e) high work effectiveness and (f) low
absenteeism and turnover . The model says that internal rewards are obtained by an
individual when he learns that he personally has performed well on a task that he cares
about.

4) What are the distinct features of job production as compared to mass and
batch production Systems?
Job production
Job production involves producing a one-off product for a specific customer. Job
production is most often associated with small firms (making railings for a specific
house, building/repairing a computer for a specific customer, making flower
arrangements for a specific wedding etc.) but large firms use job production too.
Examples include:
Designing and implementing an advertising campaign
Auditing the accounts of a large PUBLIC COMPANY.
Building a new factory
Installing machinery in a factory

Key benefits of job production include:

work is generally of a high quality
a high level of customisation is possible to meet the customer's exact requirements
significant flexibility is possible, especially when compared to mass production.
workers can be easily motivated due to the skilled nature of the work they are
performing
Disadvantages include:
higher cost of production
requires the use of specialist labour (compare with the repetitive, low-skilled jobs in
mass production.
slow compared to other methods of production.
Essential features
There are a number of features that should be implemented in a job production
environment, they include:
Clear definitions of objectives should be set.
Clearly outlined decision making process.
Batch production is a manufacturing used to produce or process any product in
BATCHES, as opposed to a CONTINUOUS PRODUCTION process, or a one-off
production. The primary characeristic of batch production is that all components are
completed at a workstation before they move to the next one. Batch production is
popular in bakeries and in the manufacture of sports shoes, pharmaceutical
ingredients, inks, paints and adhesives. In the manufacture of inks and paints, a
technique called a colour-run is used. A colour-run is where one manufactures the
lightest color first, such as light yellow followed by the next increasingly darker
colour such as orange, then red and so on until reaching black and then starts over
again. This minimizes the cleanup and reconfiguring of the machinery between each
batch. White (by which is meant opaque paint, not transparent ink) is the only colour
that cannot be used in a colour run due to the fact that a small amount of white
pigment can adversely affect the medium colours.
There are inefficiencies associated with batch production. The production equipment
must be stopped, re-configured, and its output tested before the next batch can be
produced. Time between batches is known as 'down time'.
Batch production is useful for a factory that makes seasonal items or products for
which it is difficult to FORECAST demand.
There are several advantages of batch production; it can reduce initial capital outlay
because a single production line can be used to produce several PRODUCTS. As
shown in the example, batch production can be useful for small businesses who
cannot afford to run continuous production lines. Also, companies can use batch
production as a trial run. If a retailer buys a batch of a product that does not sell then
the producer can cease production without having to sustain huge losses.
MOST PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES.
PFIZER [US]
BAXTER [ US ]
Mass production (also called flow production, repetitive flow production, or series
production) is the production of large amounts of standardized products on
PRODUCTION LINES.
Mass production typically uses moving tracks or conveyor belts to move partially
complete products to workers, who perform simple repetitive tasks to permit very
high rates of production per worker, allowing the high-volume manufacture of
inexpensive finished goods. Mass production is CAPITAL INTENSIVE , as it uses a
high proportion of machinery in relation to workers. With fewer labour costs and a
faster rate of production, capital is increased while expenditure is decreased. However
the machinery that is needed to set up a mass production line is so expensive that
there must be some assurance that the product is to be successful so the company can
get a return on its investment. Machinery for mass production such as ROBOTS and
MACHINE PRESSES have high installation costs as well. Thus, mass production is
ideally suited to serve large, relatively homogenous populations of consumers, whose
demand would satisfy the long production runs required by this method of
manufacturing. As such, it is not surprising that, given a number of other factors,
mass production first became prevalent in the United States.
One of the descriptions of mass production is that the craftsmanship is in the
workbench itself, not the training of the worker; rather than having a skilled worker
measure every dimension of each part of the product against the plans or the other
parts as it is being formed, there are JIGS and GAUGE BLOCKS that are ready at
hand to ensure that the part is made to fit this set-up. It has already been checked that
the finished part will be to specifications to fit all the other finished parts - and it will
be made quicker, with no time spent on finishing the parts to fit one another. This is
the specialized capital required for mass production; each workbench is different and
each set of tools at each workbench limited to those necessary to make one part. As
each of these parts is uniformly and consistently constructed, interchangeability of
components is thus another hallmark of mass produced goods.

Use of assembly lines in mass production

Mass production systems are usually organized into assembly lines. The assemblies
pass by on a conveyor, or if they are heavy, hung from an overhead monorail.
In a factory for a complex product, rather than one assembly line, there may be many
auxiliary assembly lines feeding sub-assemblies (i.e. car engines or seats) to a
backbone "main" assembly line. A diagram of a typical mass-production factory
looks more like the skeleton of a fish than a single line.
Advantages and disadvantages
The economies of mass production come from several sources. The primary cause is a
reduction of nonproductive effort of all types. In craft production, the craftsman must
bustle about a shop, getting parts and assembling them. He must locate and use many
tools many times for varying tasks. In mass production, each worker repeats one or a
few related tasks that use the same tool to perform identical or near-identical
operations on a stream of products. The exact tool and parts are always at hand,
having been moved down the assembly line consecutively. The worker spends little
or no time retrieving and/or preparing materials and tools, and so the time taken to
manufacture a product using mass production is shorter than when using traditional
methods.
The probability of human error and variation is also reduced, as tasks are
predominantly carried out by machinery. A reduction in labour costs, as well as an
increased rate of production, enables a company to produce a larger quantity of one
product at a lower cost than using traditional, non-linear methods.
However, mass production is inflexible because it is difficult to alter a design or
production process after a production line is implemented. Also, all products
produced on one production line will be identical or very similar, and introducing
variety to satisfy individual tastes is not easy. However, some variety can be achieved
by applying different finishes and decorations at the end of the production line if
necessary.
MOSTLY MOTOR VEHICLES.
FORD MOTORS [ US ]
GENERAL MOTORS [US]
FLOW PRODUCTION
Flow production involves a continuous movement of items through the production
process. This means that when one task is finished the next task must start
immediately. Therefore, the time taken on each task must be the same.
Flow production (often known as mass production) involves the use of production
lines such as in a car manufacturer where doors, engines, bonnets and wheels are
added to a chassis as it moves along the assembly line. It is appropriate when firms
are looking to produce a high volume of similar items. Some of the big brand names
that have consistently high demand are most suitable for this type of production:
Heinz baked beans
Kellogg’s corn flakes
Mars bars
Advantages
Flow production is capital intensive. This means it uses a high proportion of
machinery in relation to workers, as is the case on an assembly line. The advantage of
this is that a high number of products can roll off assembly lines at very low cost.
This is because production can continue at night and over weekends and also firms
can benefit from economies of scale, which should lower the cost per unit of
production.
Disadvantages
The main disadvantage is that with so much machinery it is very difficult to alter the
production process. This makes production inflexible and means that all products
have to be very similar or standardised and cannot be tailored to individual tastes.
 However some “variety” can be achieved by applying different finishes, decorations
etc at the end of the production line.

5) Write Short notes on the following

i) Waste Management
ii) Work Measurement
iii) Acceptance Sampling.
Solution:
i) Waste management is the collection, transport, processing, recycling or
disposal of waste materials. The term usually relates to materials produced by human
activity, and is generally undertaken to reduce their effect on health, aesthetics or
amenity. Waste management is also carried out to reduce the materials' effect on the
environment and to recover resources from them. Waste management can involve solid,
liquid or gaseous substances, with different methods and fields of expertiseforeach.
Waste management practices differ for developed and developing nations, for urban and
rural areas, and for residential and industrial, producers. Management for non-hazardous
residential and institutional waste in metropolitan areas is usually the responsibility of
local government authorities, while management for non-hazardous commercial and
industrial waste is usually the responsibility of thegenerator. Waste management methods
for vary widely between areas for many reasons, including type of waste material, nearby
land uses, and the area available.
An example of waste management through composting is the Green Bin Program in
Toronto, Canada, where household organic waste (such as kitchen scraps and plant
cuttings) are collected in a dedicated container and then composted. The energy content
of waste products can be recycled by using them as fuel. Recycling through thermal
treatment ranges from using waste as a fuel source for cooking or heating, to fuel for
boilers to generate steam and electricity in a turbine. Pyrolysis and gasification are two
related forms of thermal treatment where waste materials are heated to high temperatures
with limited oxygen availability. The process typically occurs in a sealed vessel under
high pressure. Pyrolysis of solid waste converts the material into solid, liquid and gas
products. The liquid and gas can be burnt to produce energy or refined into other
products. The solid residue (char) can be further refined into products such as activated
carbon. Gasification is used to convert organic materials directly into a synthetic gas
(syngas) composed of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The gas is then burnt to produce
electricity and steam.

ii) Work Measurement is a term which covers several different ways of finding
out how long a job or part of a job should take to complete. It can be defined as the
systematic determination, through the use of various techniques, of the amount of
effective physical and mental work in terms of work units in a specified task. The work
units usually are given in standard minutes or standard hours.Why should we need to
know how long a job should take? The answer to this question lies in the importance of
time in our everyday life. We need to know how long it should take to walk to the train
station in the morning, one needs to schedule the day's work and even when to take out
the dinner from the oven.
In the business world these standard times are needed for:
1. planning the work of a workforce,
2. manning jobs, to decide how many workers it would need to complete certain jobs,
3. scheduling the tasks allocated to people
4. costing the work for estimating contract prices and costing the labour content in
general
5. calculating the efficiency or productivity of workers - and from this:
6. providing fair returns on possible incentive bonus payment schemes.
On what are these standard times set? They are set, not on how long a certain individual
would take to complete a task but on how long a trained, experienced worker would take
to do the task at a defined level of pace or performance.Who sets these standard times?
Specially trained and qualified observers set these times, using the most appropriate
methods or techniques for the purpose i.e. "horses for courses".How it is done depends on
circumstances that obtain. The toolkit available to the comprehensively trained observer
is described below.The reader is invited to search the individual methods on this current
Website. Selecting the most appropriate methods of work measurementThe method
chosen for each individual situation to be measured depends on several factors which
include:
1. the length on the job to be measured in time units
2. the precision which is appropriate for the type of work in terms of time units (i.e.
should it be in minutes, hundredths or thousandths of a minute)
3. the general cycle-time of the work, i.e. does it take seconds, minutes or days to
complete
The length of time necessary for the completion of the range of jobs can vary from a few
seconds in highly repetitive factory work to several weeks or months for large projects
such as major shutdown maintenance work on an oil refinery. It is quite clear that using a
stop-watch, for example, on the latter work would take several man-years to time to
measure! Thus, more "overall" large-scale methods of timing must be employed.
The precision is an important factor, too. This can vary from setting times of the order of
"to the nearest thousandth of a minute" (e.g. short cycle factory work) to the other end of
the scale of "to the nearest week" (e.g. for large project work). These are the dominant
factors that affect the choice of method of measurement.

iii) Acceptance sampling uses statistical sampling to determine whether to accept

or reject a production lot of material. It has been a common quality control technique
used in industry and particularly the military for contracts and procurement.
Acceptance sampling is a procedure used for sentencing incoming batches. The most
widely used plans are given by the Military Standard tables, which were developed
during World War II.

Sampling plans can be categorized across several dimensions:

* Sampling by attributes vs. sampling by variables: When the item inspection leads to
a binary result (either the item is conforming or nonconforming) or the number of
nonconformities in an item are counted, then we are dealing with sampling by attributes.
If the item inspection leads to a continuous measurement, then we are sampling by
variables.
* Incoming vs. outgoing inspection: If the batches are inspected before the product is
shipped to the consumer, it is called outgoing inspection. If the inspection is done by the
consumer, after they were received from the supplier, it is called incoming inspection.
* Rectifying vs. non-rectifying sampling plans: Determines what is done with
nonconforming items that were found during the inspection. When the cost of replacing
faulty items with new ones, or reworking them is accounted for, the sampling plan is
rectifying.
* Single, double, and multiple sampling plans: The sampling procedure may consist of
drawing a single sample, or it may be done in two or more steps. A double sampling
procedure means that if the sample taken from the batch is not informative enough,
another sample is taken. In multiple sampling, additional samples can be drawn after the
second sample.