SAMPLING PLANS AND

ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING
Dr. Raghu Nandan Sengupta
Professor
Department of Industrial and Management Engineering

All figures are taken from(unless otherwise mentioned):

Introduction to Statistical process Control
Douglas. C Montgomery
6th Edition
 ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING
ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING PLANS – General Introduction

•Acceptance sampling is a method used to accept or reject

product lots based on a random sample of the product.
•The purpose of acceptance sampling is to sentence lots
(accept or reject) (also known as lot disposition) rather
than to estimate the quality of a lot.
•Acceptance sampling plans do not improve quality,
directly.
•The nature of sampling is such that acceptance sampling
will accept some lots and reject others even though they are
of the same quality.
•The most effective use of acceptance sampling is as an
auditing tool to help ensure that the output of a process
meets requirements.
 Situations where acceptance
sampling is likely to be useful
ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING PLANS (vs. 100% Inspection)

1. When testing is destructive.

2. When the cost of 100% inspection is extremely high.
3. When 100 % inspection is not technologically feasible or would
require so much calendar time that production scheduling would
be seriously impacted.
4. When there are many items to be inspected and the inspection
error rate is sufficiently high that 100% inspection might cause a
higher percentage of defective.
5. When the supplier has an excellent quality history, and some
reduction in inspection from 100% is desired, but the supplier’s
process capability is sufficiently low as to make no inspection an
unsatisfactory alternative.
6. When there are potentially serious product liability risks, and
although the supplier’s process is satisfactory, a program for
continuously monitoring the product is necessary.
 Types of Sampling Plans
• One major classification is by data type, variables and attributes
ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING PLANS – Types of Plans

• Another is based on the number of samples required for a decision :

• Single-sampling plans
• Double-sampling plans
• Multiple-sampling plans
• Sequential-sampling plans
• Single-, double-, multiple-, and sequential sampling plans can be
designed to produce equivalent results. Factors to consider
include:
• Administrative efficiency
• Type of information produced by the plan
• Average amount of inspection required by plan
• Impact of the procedure on manufacturing flow
 Lot Formation and Random Sampling
ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING PLANS – Lot Formation and Sampling

 There are a number of important considerations in

forming lots for inspection, including:
 Lots should be homogeneous.
 Larger lots are preferred over smaller ones.
 Lots should be conformable to materials-handling
systems used in both supplier and consumer
facilities.
Single Sampling Plan for attributes
• Suppose that a lot of size N has been submitted for
inspection. A single-sampling plan is defined by the
sample size n and the acceptance number c. Thus, if the
lot size is N = 10,000, then the sampling plan:
• n=89
• c=2
• means that from a lot of size 10,000 a random sample of n = 89
units is inspected and the number of nonconforming or defective
items d observed.

• If the number of observed defectives d is less than or

equal to c =2, the lot will be accepted.
• If the number of observed defectives d is greater than 2,
the lot will be rejected.
 ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING

The nature of sampling is such that acceptance sampling will accept

ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING PLANS – Producer’s Risk

some lots and reject others even though they are of the same quality.
Thus, acceptance sampling can reject “good” lots and accept “bad”
lots.
Producer’s Risk
●The probability of rejecting a good lot.
In order to calculate this probability there must be a numerical
definition as to what constitutes “good”.
AQL (Acceptable Quality Level) - the numerical definition of
a good lot.
The ANSI/ASQC standard describes AQL as “the maximum
percentage or proportion of nonconforming items or number of
nonconformities in a batch that can be considered satisfactory as
a process average”.
 Consumer’s Risk

• The probability of accepting a bad lot.

ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING PLANS – Consumer’s Risk

• In order to calculate this probability there must be a

numerical definition as to what constitutes “bad”.

• LTPD (Lot Tolerance Percent Defective) or RQL

(Rejectable Quality Level) LQL (Limiting Quality Level)
The numerical definition of a bad lot.

• The ANSI/ASQC standard as “the maximum percentage

or proportion of nonconforming items or the number of
nonconformities in a batch for which the customer wishes
the probability of acceptance to be a specified low value.
 Operating Characteristic (OC) Curve

● OC Curve is a curve showing the relationship

between the probability of acceptance Pa (on y-axis)
ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING PLANS – Consumer’s Risk

and the proportion defective p of the lot (on x-axis).

● OC Curve is typically used to represent the four

parameters of a sampling plan
•Producer’s Risk,
•Consumer’s Risk,
•AQL and
•LTPD (or RQL) of the sampling plan.
 ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING
100%
Pa : Probability of Accepting Lot
ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING PLANS – OC Curve

This curve distinguishes

75% perfectly between good
and bad lots.

50%

25%
Ideal or Perfect OC
Curve

.03 .06 .09

p : Lot Quality (Fraction Defective)
 ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING

OC Curve

1.2
ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING PLANS – OC Curve

Producers Risk
1
Probability of Acceptance

0.8

0.6
Consumers Risk

0.4

0.2

0
AQL LTPD
P

Underlying Distribution (for ‘number of defectives’ in a sample)

Binomial – samples come from large lots or from a stream of lots selected
at random from a process (Type B OC Curve)
Hypergeometric – from an isolated lot of finite size (Type A OC Curve)
Note: If the sample is less than 20 units the binomial distribution is used to
build the OC Curve; otherwise, the Poisson distribution is used
ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING PLANS – OC Curve

ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING
 SPECIFIC POINTS ON THE OC CURVE

• The poorest quality level for the supplier’s process that a consumer
would consider to be acceptable as a process average is
ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING PLANS – OC Curve

called the acceptable quality level (AQL)

• AQL is a property of the supplier’s manufacturing process, not a

property of the sampling plan

• The protection obtained for individual lots of poor quality is

established by the lot tolerance percent defective (LTPD) (Also
called rejectable quality level (RQL) and the limiting quality level
(LQL))

• LTPD is a level of lot quality specified by the consumer, not a

characteristic of the sampling plan

• Sampling plans can be designed to have specified performance at the

AQL and the LTPD points
 ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING
1
 = .10
Probability of accepting lot
0.9
ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING PLANS – OC Curve

0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4 LTPD
0.3
0.2 “Good” Indifferent “Bad”
0.1  = .10
0
0 .05 .10 .15 .20 .25
AQL Lot quality (fraction defective)
 ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING
100%

OC Curves come in
various shapes
Probability of Accepting Lot
ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING PLANS – OC Curve

depending on the sample

75% size and risk of  and 
errors

50% This curve is more

discriminating

25% This curve is less

discriminating

.03
Lot Quality (Fraction Defective)
OC Curve Calculations
• The probability of observing exactly d defectives is:

• The probability of acceptance is simply the probability that

d is less than or equal to c:
An example
ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING PLANS – OC Curve

Effect of n and c on OC curve

ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING PLANS – OC Curve

Behavior
Other Aspects of OC Curve
 RECTIFYING INSPECTION
ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING PLANS – Rectifying Inspection

RECTIFYING INSPECTION
The rectifying inspection refers to the inspection programs when
100% inspection or screening of rejected lots (with all discovered
defective items are either removed or replaced with known good items).
Consequently, average fraction defective in the stream of outgoing lots is
lower than the fraction defective in the incoming lots.
 Average Outgoing Quality (AOQ)

Average of inspected lots (100%) and

ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING PLANS – AOQ

uninspected lots

 N  n
AOQ  Pac  p 
 N 

Pac = Probability of accepting lot

p = Fraction defective
N = Lot size
n = Sample size
 Average Outgoing Quality Limit (AOQL)
0 0
0.05 0.046
ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING PLANS – AOQL

Approximate AOQL = .082

0.09 0.1 0.074
AOQ (Fraction defective out)

0.08
0.15 0.082
0.07
0.06 0.2 0.075
0.050.25 0.061
0.04 0.3 0.045
0.030.35 0.03
0.02
0.01 0.4 0.019
0
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4

Incoming fraction defective (p)

 AVERAGE TOTAL INSPECTION (ATI)
ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING PLANS – Average Total Inspection

AVERAGE TOTAL INSPECTION (ATI)

 If the lots contain no defectives, no lots will be rejected, and the amount
of inspection will per lot will be the sample size n.

 If the items are all defective, every lot will be submitted for 100%
inspection, and the amount of inspection per lot will be the lot size N.

 If the lot quality (p) 0 < p < 1, the average amount of inspection per lot will
be between the sample size n and lot size N.

 If the lot is of quality p and the probability of acceptance is Pa , then the

average total inspection per lot will be
ATI = n + (1 – Pa)(N – n)
ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING PLANS – Average Total Inspection

AVERAGE TOTAL INSPECTION (ATI)

 ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING
Acceptable Quality Level (AQL)
Percentage of defective items a customer is willing to accept
ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING PLANS – Points

from you (a property of mfg. process)

Lot Tolerance Percent Defective (LTPD)

Upper limit on the percentage of defects a customer is willing to
accept ( a property of the consumer)

Average Outgoing Quality (AOQ)

Average of rejected lots and accepted lots

Average Outgoing Quality Limit (AOQL)

Maximum AOQ for a range of fractions defective

Average Total Inspection (ATI)

Average number of units inspected per lot
 Designing Sampling Plans
(Single Sampling Plans)
ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING PLANS – Design of Sampling Plans

Operationally,
three values need to be determined before a sampling plan can
be implemented (for single sampling plans):
N= (lot size) the number of units in the lot
n= (sample size) the number of units in the sample
c= (acceptance number) the maximum number of
nonconforming units in the sample for which the lot will be accepted.
While there is not a straightforward way of determining these values directly given
desired values of the parameters, tables have been developed.
Below is an excerpt of one of these tables.
Excerpt From a Sampling Plan Table with Producers Risk = 0.05 and Consumers Risk = 0.10
C LTPD/AQL n(AQL) n(LTPD)
0 44.89 0.052 2.334
1 10.946 .355 3.886
2 6.509 .818 5.324
3 4.89 1.366 6.68
4 4.057 1.97 7.992
5 3.549 2.613 9.274
6 3.206 3.286 10.535
7 2.957 3.981 11.772
8 2.768 4.695 12.996
9 2.618 5.426 14.205
 Designing Sampling Plans
(Single Sampling Plans)
ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING PLANS – Design of Sampling Plans

Three alternatives for specifying sampling

plans
• Producers Risk (1- ) and AQL specified
• Consumers Risk β and LTPD specified
• All four parameters specified
Example 1: Given a producers risk of .05 and an AQL of .015 determine a sampling
plan
c = 1: n = .355/.015 ~ 24
c = 4: n = 1.97/.015 ~ 131
Example 2: Given a consumers risk of .1 and a LTPD of .08 determine a sampling
plan
c = 0: n = 2.334/.08 ~ 29
c = 5: n = 9.274/.08 ~ 116
Example 3 : Given producers risk of .05, consumers risk of .1, LTPD 4.5%, and AQL
of 1% find a sampling plan.
Since 4.5/1 = 4.5 is between c= 3 and c = 4. Using the n(AQL) column the sample
sizes suggested are 137 and 197 respectively. Note using this column will ensure a
producers risk of .05. Using the n(LTPD) column will ensure a consumers risk of .1
 Double Sampling Plan
In an effort to reduce the amount of inspection double (or
ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING PLANS – Double Sampling Plan

multiple) sampling is used. Whether or not the sampling effort

will be reduced depends on the defective proportions of incoming
lots. Typically, four parameters are specified:
n1 = number of units in the first sample
c1 = acceptance number for the first sample
n2 = number of units in the second sample
c2 = acceptance number for both samples

Advantage of a double-sampling plan over single sampling is that it

may reduce (??..) total amount of required inspection.
Suppose first sample in a double-sampling plan is smaller than for a
single- sampling plan
 If lot is accepted or reject on first sample, cost of inspection is lower
 Also, possible to reject a lot without completing inspection of second
sample.
 Double Sampling Plan
A double sampling plan proceeds as follows:
ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING PLANS – Double Sampling Plan

•A random sample of size n1 is drawn from the

lot.
•If the number of defective units (say d1 )  c1
the lot is accepted.
•If d1 c2 the lot is rejected.
•If neither of these conditions are satisfied a
second sample of size n2 is drawn from the lot.
•If the number of defectives in the combined
samples (d1 + d2) > c2 the lot is rejected. If not
the lot is accepted.
ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING PLANS – Double Sampling Plan

Double Sampling Plan

ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING PLANS – Double Sampling Plan

OC Curve
Double Sampling Plan
 Double Sampling Plan
OC Curve
ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING PLANS – Double Sampling Plan

OC Chart - Double Sampling Plan

1 0
0.9 0.1
0.8 0.2
0.7 0.3 P1
0.6 0.4
Pa = P1 + P2
Pa

0.5 0.5
0.4 0.6 P(rejection 1st)
0.3 0.7
0.2 0.8
0.1 0.9
0 1
0

0.1
0.01
0.02
0.03
0.03
0.04
0.05
0.06
0.07
0.07
0.08
0.09

0.11
0.11
p
OC Curve Calculation
• n1 = 50, c1 = 1, n2 = 100, c2 = 3. If Pa
denotes the probability of acceptance on
the combined samples, and PIa and PIIa
denote the probability of acceptance on the
first and second samples,

• PIa is just the probability that we will

observe d1 ≤ c1 = 1 defectives out of a
random sample of n1 = 50 items.
Calculations
• If p = 0.05 is the fraction defective in the
incoming lot,

• A second sample is drawn only if there are

two or three defectives on the first
sample—that is, if c1 < d1 ≤ c2.
Calculations
 AVERAGE SAMPLE NUMBER (ASN)
ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING PLANS – Average Sample Number

AVERAGE SAMPLE NUMBER (ASN)

 In double sampling, the size of sample selected depends on whether or not the
second sample is necessary.

 The probability of drawing a second sample varies with the fraction defective (p)
in the incoming lot.

 With the complete inspection of the second sample, the average sample size in
double sampling is equal to the
(size of the first sample) x (probability that there will only one sample)
+ (size of the combined sample) x (probability that a second
sample will be necessary)

Therefore a general formula

ASN = n1PI + (n1 + n2)(1 – PI)= n1+ n2(1 – PI)

PI is the probability of making a decision on the first sample

= P{lot is accepted on the first sample} + P{lot is rejected on the first
sample}

The plot of ASN versus p is called ASN curve.

 AVERAGE SAMPLE NUMBER (ASN)
ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING PLANS – Average Sample Number

AVERAGE SAMPLE NUMBER (ASN) for Single and Double

Sampling Plans
 AVERAGE SAMPLE NUMBER (ASN)
ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING PLANS – Average Sample Number

AVERAGE SAMPLE NUMBER (ASN) With Curtailement

 Double Sampling Plan
ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING PLANS – Rectifying Inspection and ATI

RECTIFYING INSPECTION AND AVERAGE TOTAL

INSPECTION (ATI)
ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING PLANS – Multiple Sampling Plans

Multiple Sampling Plan

ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING PLANS – Sequential Sampling Plans

Sequential Sampling Plan

Example of Sequential Sampling
ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING PLANS – Sequential Sampling Plans

Sequential Sampling Plan

ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING PLANS – Military Standard 105E

Sampling procedure for inspection by attributes developed during World War II and
is the most widely used acceptance-sampling system for attributes in the world
today

A collection of sampling schemes; therefore an acceptance-sampling system

Provides for three types of sampling: single, double, and multiple

Primary focal point is the acceptable quality level (AQL)

Different AQLs may be designated for different types of defects: critical, major,
and minor

Generally specified in contract or by authority responsible for sampling

Sample size is determined by lot size and by choice of inspection level

ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING PLANS – Military Standard 105E

Military Standard
ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING PLANS – Military Standard 105E

Military Standard
ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING PLANS – Military Standard 105E

Military Standard- Switching Rules

ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING PLANS – Military Standard 105E
ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING PLANS – Military Standard 105E

Refer to Tables 15.5, -6 and -7 in the textbook on pp. 658 – 660.

 Discussions
ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING PLANS – Military Standard 105E

• Several points about MIL STD 105E should be

emphasized:
• MIL STD 105E is AQL-oriented
• Not all possible sample sizes are possible
(2,3,5,8,13,20,32,50, etc.)
• Sample sizes are related to lot sizes
• Switching rules are subject to criticism for both
misswitching between inspection plans and
discontinuation even though there has been no
actual quality deterioration
• But a flagrant and common abuse of MIL STD 105E
is failure to use the switching rules at all
ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING PLANS – Dodge- Romig Sampling Plans
 AOQL Plans:
•Dodge-Romig (1959) tables give AOQL sampling plans for specified AOQL
ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING PLANS – Dodge- Romig Sampling Plans

values
•Six classes of values for process average are specified for various lot
sizes
•Tables are available for both single and double sampling
•Designed so that average total inspection at a given AOQL and process
average is approximately a minimum
•Refer to Table 15.8 for an example

LTPD Plans:
•Dodge-Romig LTPD tables are designed so that the probability of lot
acceptance at the LTPD is 0.1
•Tables are provided for various LTPD values
•Six classes of values for process average are specified for various lot
sizes
•Refer to Table 14-9 for an example
 Guidelines for Using Acceptance Sampling
ACCEPTANCE SAMPLING PLANS – Guidelines for Acceptance Sampling

• An acceptance-sampling plan consists of sample size and

acceptance/rejection criteria for lot sentencing
• An acceptance-sampling scheme is a set of procedures consisting of
acceptance-sampling plans in which lot sizes, sample sizes, and
acceptance/rejection criteria along with amount of 100% inspection and
sampling are related
• A sampling system is a unified collection of one or more schemes