SINGLE SAMPLING PLAN
A sampling plan in which a decision about the acceptance or rejection of a lot is based
on a single sample that has been inspected is known as a single sampling plan. For example,
suppose a buyer purchases cricket balls in lots of 500 from a company manufacturing cricket
balls. To check the quality of the lots, the buyer draws a random sample of size 20 from each
lot and takes a decision about accepting or rejecting the lot on the basis of the information
provided by this sample. Since the buyer takes the decision about the lot on the basis of a single
sample, this sampling plan is a single sampling plan. A single sampling plan requires the
specification of two quantities which are known as parameters of the single sampling plan.
These parameters are n – size of the sample, and c – acceptance number for the sample. Let us
suppose that the lots are of the same size (N) and are submitted for inspection one at a time.
The procedure for implementing the single sampling plan to arrive at a decision about the lot
is described in the following steps:
Step 1: We draw a random sample of size n from the lot received from the supplier or
the final assembly.
Step 2: We inspect each and every unit of the sample and classify it as defective or non-
defective. At the end of the inspection, we count the number of defective units found in the
sample. Suppose the number of defective units found in the sample is d.
Step 3: We compare the number of defective units (d) found in the sample with the
stated acceptance number (c).
Step 4: We take the decision of acceptance or rejection of the lot on the basis of the
sample as follows:
Under the acceptance sampling plan If the number of defective units (d) in the sample
is less than or equal to the stated acceptance number (c), i.e., if d ≤ c, we accept the lot and if
d > c, we reject the lot.
Under the rectifying sampling plan If d ≤ c, we accept the lot and replace all defective
units found in the sample by non-defective units and if d > c, we accept the lot after inspecting
the entire lot and replacing all defective units in the lot by non-defective units.
Let us explain these steps further with the help of an example.
Example 1: Suppose a mobile phone company produces mobile phones in lots of 100 phones.
To check the quality of the lots, the quality inspector of the company uses a single sampling
plan with n = 15 and c = 1. Explain the procedure for implementing it.
Solution: For implementing the single sampling plan, the quality inspector of the company
randomly draws a sample of 15 mobile phones from each lot and classifies each mobile of the
sample as defective or non-defective. At the end of the inspection, he/she counts the number of
defective mobiles (d) found in the sample and compares it with the acceptance number (c). If
d ≤ c (= 1), he/she accepts the lot and if d > c (= 1), he/she rejects the lot under the acceptance
sampling plan. Under the rectifying sampling plan, if d ≤ c (= 1), he/she accepts the lot by
replacing all defective mobiles found in the sample by non-defective mobiles and if d > c,
he/she accepts the lot by inspecting the entire lot and replacing all defective mobiles in the lot
by non-defective mobiles.