Operations Management: Creating Value Along the Supply Chain, 7th Edition

Chapter S3. Operational Decision-Making Tools: Acceptance Sampling

In this supplement, you will learn about. . .

• Single-Sample Attribute Plan

• The Operating Characteristic Curve

• Developing a Sample Plan With OM Tools

• Average Outgoing Quality

• Double- and Multiple-Sampling Plans

In acceptance sampling, a random sample of the units produced is inspected, and the quality of this sample is assumed to reflect the overall quality of all items or a particular group of items, called a lot. Acceptance sampling is a statistical method, so if a sample is random, it ensures that each item has an equal chance of being selected and inspected. This enables statistical inferences to be made about the population—the lot—as a whole. If a sample has an acceptable number or percentage of defective items, the lot is accepted, but if it has an unacceptable number of defects, it is rejected.

• Acceptance sampling: accepting or rejecting a production lot based on the number of defects in a sample.

Acceptance sampling is a historical approach to quality control based on the premise that some acceptable number of defective items will result from the production process. The producer and customer agree on the number of acceptable defects, normally measured as a percentage. However, the notion of a producer or customer agreeing to any defects at all is anathema to the adherents of quality management. The goal of these companies is to achieve zero defects. Acceptance sampling identifies defective items after the product ...