Sampling strategies for competing quality objectives

Management goals, customers’ needs, and government regulations occasionally prevent the use of optimal economic, statistical, or behavioral solutions for quality control problems. This study describes such a case in a near-zero-defect (37 defects per million) environment. A major producer of canned food products considered three post-process control sampling alternatives for finished product evaluation. A plan which compromised between the current sampling plan and a minimum average total inspection/fixed average outgoing quality level plan met the quality objections of the corporation by simultaneously considering the objectives of management, the customers, and government.