On economically based quality control decisions

A new approach to the problem of quality control is investigated. It is based on the theories and models developed for optimal maintenance policies for equipment subject to stochastic failure. Four alternative sampling/inspection procedures are examined. They are easy to implement, do not require the process operator to compute his own operating decisions, and are capable of finding optimal intervals between successive samplings/inspections. Both fixed and variable costs are included in the models. Relatively efficient algorithms have been developed for finding the optimal quality control procedures; this is due, partially, to the simple form of the objective function.