Definition:Acceptance Sampling/Motivation

Motivation for Acceptance Sampling

Every batch of items of merchandise may contain defectives.

The consumer will not accept a batch with a large number of defectives.

On the other hand, the producer does not want to reject a batch with a small number of defectives.

A producer does not want to test everything produced, as that is impractical and inefficient, and (in cases where testing necessarily destroys the merchandise in some way) unfeasible.

Hence a sample is tested.

The aim of acceptance sampling is to:

$(1): \quad$ minimise the sample size with respect to the batch size

$(2): \quad$ minimise the producer's risk

$(3): \quad$ minimise the consumer's risk

The maximum number $d_{\mathrm {max} }$ of allowed defectives in a given sample is determined in order to achieve an optimal solution.

Economic factors which influence the sample size taken and the optimum values of the producer's risk and consumer's risk include:

Production costs

Cost of rectification of faulty items

Cost of scrapping or selling faulty items or rejected batches at a lower price.

Sources

• 2008: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (4th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): acceptance sampling