An expert system for selecting attribute sampling plans

Abstract

A considerable portion of quality control managers lime in a production system is spent in routine and complex decision-making processes that have significant impact on average outgoing quality, quality improvement, and quality cost. The quality control manager must decide among various statistical process control methods and sampling plans for each part (or characteristic). These decisions arc usually based on how critical a part is, historical information about the quality of the parts, and other factors. Many of these factors require subjective judgments by the quality control manager. For a production facility with an inventory system of thousands of different parls l determination of feasible sampling plans and process control charts is a time-consuming and difficult task. As demons: rated in this paper, an expert system has been designed 10 faciliratc the selection of an appropriate sampling plan for each part . The system is referred to as Adviser for Selecting Auribute Sampling Plan (ASASP). © 1990 Taylor & Francis Ltd.