A Decisive Predictive Approach to the Construction of Sequential Acceptance Sampling Plans for Lifetimes

A sequential batch acceptance sampling scheme is presented within the framework of decisive prediction as described for example in Aitchison and Dunsmore (1975). The scheme considers a batch of N components and a sequential testing design is derived in which at each stage we can either scrap the batch, accept the batch or test another component. The testing involves measuring the (perhaps censored) lifetimes of M components simultaneously with an exponential model for lifetimes. The approach uses the Bayesian predictive distribution and a utility structure which depends on the lifetimes of the untested components. The sampling scheme is determined from the solution of a dynamic programming formulation and provides intuitively satisfactory plans which are simple to operate.