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Abstract:
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This talk presents a method for determining an optimal inspection frequency for a manufacturing process where a specified number of items will be made and where, if the process goes out of control and generates a defective item, it stays out of control. In addition, there is an inspection procedure than can detect a defective item. The frequency of inspection is based on minimizing the total cost. The total cost includes the cost of inspections plus the cost of manufacturing defective items. In this application the cost of manufacturing defective items is, after identifying a defective item, the cost of rechecking previously manufactured items until it is determined when the process went out of control, e.g., until a good item is found. The paper describes the application of this approach to ensure the safety of stainless steel containers packaged with high-level nuclear materials for long-term storage (up to 50 years). In this application the cost of inspections is high and the probability of a failure of the packaging process is small, however, the consequences of producing faulty containers is very high.
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