The Meaning Of Acceptance Sampling

By Marcia Marks


Acceptance sampling is a statistical method that many companies implement for ensuring the control of quality in production lines. The personnel of a firm can either deny or accept a batch of finished or partially completed products. From the production queue, employees can choose a sample and verify its integrity. Once the product passes the testing phase, it can be released for consumers. Checking every item could take much time and this is avoided.

The process is normally used in two main cases: while the product is still in the facility, or just before it is ready for release. The US military was the first institution to implement the technique. Everything started with the verification of a bullet production line. In the case in which multiple broken bullets would have reached military use, the effects would have been unpleasant. A random sample was selected from all the available items.

The acceptance depends on the number of defects that are found, but the quality is not the main concern. Instead, the thing that matters is the fact that the products can be released on the market or not. Usually, the producer gives a lot to the consumer and a lot can be accepted if the number of defects does not exceed a certain limit. Because only a sample is taken that will decide the fate of most products in the same line, one hundred percent reliability cannot be assured.

There are three different implementations of the methods: single, double and sequential. For the first type of application, a specific number of samples are taken and an acceptable number of defects exist. The double type can be a little more complicated, but basically is not very different. Sequential sampling is just an extension of the second method.

There are good reasons for which the method is useful, from which one can be that you do not have to verify entire lots of the production line and ruin precious products. A lot of examples can be given from real situations. For instance, a company can work to maintain not more than ten percent of broken candies in a facility that manufactures them. Five percent of the lot is verified and if the number of candies that are not made properly is large, all of them can be denied.

Companies can reach decisions about their acceptable percentage of broken products and there are different numbers that can be chosen. The samples meant for verification can also be selected. For doing things right, firms can use statistical techniques. Every business can have its own batch size that belongs to a larger lot.

Most of the time, the sample meant for checking is like the image of its batch and is also considered the quality mark of the lot. If a batch has a high percentage, it is seen as a poor one. When the standards are high, the defects limit level is usually very low.

Firms can implement acceptance sampling much in their endeavors and different industries worldwide can benefit from this. In order to establish the quality of a lot, companies can use maximum percentages. Examples can be seen in which people can understand the ways of using the technique and its important role.




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