Charts With Variable Sampling Intervals

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Abstract
The usual practice in using a control chart to monitor a process is to take samples from the process with fixed sampling intervals. This article considers the properties of the chart when the sampling interval between each pair of samples is not fixed but rather depends on what is observed in the first sample. The idea is that the time interval until the next sample should be short if a sample shows some indication of a change in the process and long if there is no indication of a change. The proposed variable sampling interval (VSI) chart uses a short sampling interval if is close to but not actually outside the control limits and a long sampling interval if is close to target. If is actually outside the control limits, then the chart signals in the same way as the standard fixed sampling interval (FSI) chart. Properties such as the average time to signal and the average number of samples to signal are evaluated. Comparisons between the FSI and the VSI charts indicate that the VSI chart is substantially more eflicient.