Economic-Statistical Design of Acceptance Control Chart

Acceptance control charts are effective tools to monitor capable processes in which the fraction of the produced nonconforming items is very low. In these charts, some controlled changes in the process mean are allowed, and the production of a specified number of defectives is tolerated. Designing these acceptance control charts by considering the cost of sampling, detecting, and investigating out-of-control signals as well as the probable correction of assignable cause(s) can result in economic advantages. Moreover, the statistical properties of the control charts can be satisfied. In this article, an economic-statistical model is developed to design acceptance control charts. An illustrative example is used to compare the results of economic versus economic-statistical design of the acceptance control charts. In addition, a comprehensive sensitivity analysis is conducted on the basis of the parameters of the model. Copyright (C) 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.