ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING

A Tool for Determining the Disposition of the Lot for the

Purpose of Inspection on the Basis of which Acceptance
or Rejection of a Product is Determined.
Used as a Substitute for 100% Inspection.
PRODUCER's RISK: Risk Associated with Rejecting (or
Not Accepting) a Lot of Good Quality.
CONSUMERs RISK: Risk of Accepting a Poor Lot. It is
Seldom Desirable to Accept Lot with Poor Quality.
ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING
ACCEPTABLE QUALITY LEVEL (AQL): Numerical Definition of
GOOD LOT Associated with Producers Risk.
AQL as The Maximum % or Proportion of Non-conforming
Items or Number of Non-conformities in a Lot or Batch that
can be Considered Satisfactory as a Process Average.
LIMITING QUALITY LEVEL (LQL): Numerical Definition of POOR
LOT Associated with Consumers Risk.
The % or Proportion of Non-conforming Items or Number of
Non-conformities in a Lot or Batch for which the Consumer
Wishes the Probability of Acceptance to be a Specified Low
Value.
ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING
When LQL is Expressed as % of Non-conforming Items it
may be Referred as Lot Tolerance Percent Defective
(LTPD).
OPERATING CHARACTERISTIC (OC) CURVE: - Plot of the
Probability of Accepting the Lot (on Y-Axis) Versus the
Proportion Non-Conforming Item of the Lot (on the X-
Axis).
Measure of Performance of a Sampling Plan
It Shows Discriminatory Power of the Sampling Plan.
IDEAL Shape of OC Curve: STEP Function for a Given
Quality Level Po.
 TYPES of SAMPLING PLANS
SINGLE SAMPLING PLAN - Information Obtained from One Sample
is Used to Make Decision about Accepting or Rejecting the Lot.
There are TWO Parameters in the SINGLE Sampling Plan: Sample
Size (n) and Acceptance Number (c).
If Number of Non-Conforming Items or Non-Conformities
Acceptance Number Lot is Accepted otherwise Lot is
Rejected.
DOUBLE SAMPLING PLAN : Involves Making Decision to Accept
Lot or Reject the Lot or Take Second Sample.
Double Sampling Plan is More Complicated than Single Sampling
Plan but Usually on Average, Fewer Items are Needed to be
Sampled to Make a Decision About the Lot.
TYPES of SAMPLING PLANS
MULTIPLE SAMPLING PLAN: Extension of the DOUBLE
Sampling Plan
Three, Four, Five or as Many Samples as Desired may be
Needed to Make a Decision to Regarding the Lot.
Sampling Plan may be Terminated at Any Stage Once
the Acceptance or Rejection Criteria have been Met.
COMPARISON - DIFFERENT
SAMPLING PLANS
SIMPLICITY: Single Sampling Plan is the Best Followed
by Double and then Multiple Sampling Plan.
ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS (for Record Keeping, Training,
and Inspection): Least for Single and the Highest for the
Multiple Sampling Plan.
NUMBER of ITEMS INSPECTED to Make Decision
Regarding the Lot - Usually More for Single Sampling
Plan because Double and Multiple Sampling Plans Use
Fewer Items in their Samples.
INSPECTION COST: Most for Single and Least for Multiple
Sampling Plans.
AVERAGE OUTGOING QUALITY (AOQ)
Average Outgoing Quality (AOQ) is the Average Quality Level
of a SERIES OF LOTS/BATCHES that Leave the Inspection
Station after Coming in for Inspection at a Certain Quality
Level p and Assuming RECTIFICATION INSPECTION.
AOQ is Expressed as Ratio of Number of Non-Conforming
Items per Lot Expected to Leave the Inspection Station to
Total Number of Items in the Lot.
AOQ Depends on the Incoming Quality Level p of the Lots.
AOQ Curve Evaluates the Effectiveness of Sampling Plan for
Various Levels of Incoming Quality Level.
AVERAGE OUTGOING QUALITY LIMIT
(AOQL)
AVERAGE OUTGOING QUALITY LIMIT (AOQL): Maximum
or Peak Value of the AOQ Curve. It Represents the Worst
Average Quality Leaving the Inspection Station,
Assuming Rectification, Regardless of Incoming Lot
Quality.
AOQL Value is a Measure of Goodness of a Sampling
Plan.
Sampling Plans are Designed such that their AOQL does
NOT Exceed a Certain Specified Value.
 AVERAGE TOTAL INSPECTION (ATI)
Represents the AVERAGE NUMBER of ITEMS INSPECTED PER LOT.
If a lot has no nonconforming items, it will obviously be accepted
by the chosen sampling plan, and only n items (the sample size)
will be inspected for a lot.
For a Lot having 100% Non-Conforming Items: Number of Items
Inspected = Lot Size (N); Assuming that Rejected Lots are
Screened.
For a lot quality between these extremes, the average amount
inspected per lot will vary between these two values.
ATI Curve is a Plot of ATI (on Y-axis) versus Incoming Lot Quality
p (on X-axis).
Average Sample Number
The average number of items inspected for a series of
lots with a given incoming lot quality in order to make a
decision is known as the average sample number (ASN).
ASN Curve is the Plot of ASN Values (on Y-axis) versus
Proportion Non-conforming p on (x-axis).
Typically, ASN for Double Sampling Plan is BELOW that
for a SINGLE Sampling Plan.