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A Problem Called ISO 2859-1 Sampling

Procedures for Inspection by Attributes - Part 1

Article in Economic Quality Control · January 2004

DOI: 10.1515/EQC.2004.265

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c Heldermann Verlag Economic Quality Control
ISSN 0940-5151 Vol 19 (2004), No. 2, 265 – 276

REVIEW OF STATISTICAL STANDARDS AND

SPECIFICATIONS

A Problem Called ISO 2859-1 Sampling Procedures

for Inspection by Attributes - Part 1

Elart von Collani

Abstract: Controlling uncertainty has an ever-increasing importance in all areas of industry.

To meet the demand, the International Organisation of Standardization (ISO) developed and
develops “statistical” standards. However, while success and failure of technical standards
can be assessed rather easily, this is different with statistical methods because of randomness.
Moreover, rationale and purpose of statistical methods are often vague. This paper analyzes
one of the most frequently applied statistical standards namely ISO 2859-1 (1999). The aim
of this investigation is

• to compare the purpose of ISO 2859-1 with industrial needs,

• to evaluate clearness and comprehensibility of its presentation,
• to check whether it represents the state of the art and a framework for future techno-
logical development.

It turns out that the purpose of ISO 2859-1 is obsolete, that the formulation is ambiguous,
that it does not represent the state of the art and finally that it hinders necessary future
technological development in the field.

1 General Objectives and Requirements for Standards

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has formulated in ISO/IEC
Directives, Part 2, the following general principles for developing standards:

• The objective of documents published by ISO is to define clear and unambiguous

provisions in order to facilitate international trade and communication.
266 Review of Statistical Standards and Specifications

• To achieve this objective, the document shall

– be as complete as necessary within the limits specified by its scope,

– be consistent, clear and accurate,
– take full account of the state of the art,
– provide a framework for future technological development, and
– be comprehensible to qualified persons who have not participated in its prepa-
ration.

• Whenever possible, requirements shall be expressed in terms of performance rather

than design or descriptive characteristics. This approach leaves maximum freedom
to technical development.

• Primarily, those characteristics shall be included which are suitable for worldwide
(universal) acceptance. Where necessary, owing to differences in legislation, climate,
environment, economies, social conditions, trade patterns, etc., several opinions may
be indicated.

In the following, one of the most popular statistical standards shall be assessed by means
of the general requirements and rules cited above. These rules have proved to be extremely
successful in all areas of technology and have emerged as one pathfinder for globalization.
Applying the above directives to a statistical standard would demand the following: First,
the purpose has to be specified and has to be translated into statistical terms, next, the
required statistical performance criteria should be stated and finally, some rules must be
given outlining statistical procedures which guarantee that the purpose is achieved but
which do not hinder technological advancements.

2 Purpose of a Standard
The scope of a standard refers to the purpose and possibly limitations with respect to
situations when the standard can be applied. As mentioned above, the purpose is of
utmost importance and, therefore, should be given very clearly. Furthermore, it should
be assured that it coincides with specified needs of potential users.

Any limitation for possible application should be necessary and given in an unambiguous
way, as otherwise the procedure is applied in non admitted situations which would lead
to wrong results.

2.1 Purpose of ISO 2859-1

The purpose of ISO 2859-1 is given as follows:

Review of Statistical Standards and Specifications 267

The purpose is to induce a supplier through the economic and psychological

pressure of lot non-acceptance to maintain a process average at least as good
as the specified acceptance quality limit, while at the same time providing an
upper limit for the risk to the consumer of accepting the occasional poor lot.

Accordingly, the standard assumes a situation with two parties (supplier and consumer)
and can be used by the consumer as a means for generating pressure on the supplier and
limiting the risk for accepting lots of poor quality. Exerting “economic and psychological
pressure” is stated as the primary aim of the standard. For achieving this aim, one would
expect rather psychological than statistical expert knowledge. Nevertheless, the standard
is classified as a statistical one.

The first question to be considered refers to the need of methods for exerting pressure
on suppliers with respect to the facilitation of international trade and communication.
In view of global competition and in view of movements like “Six Sigma” and the im-
plementation of continuous quality improvement strategies, one can hardly think of any
non-military consumer needing special tools for generating pressure on a supplier. Any
supplier affording poor quality processes is almost immediately taken from the global mar-
ket with or without economic pressure of its consumers by means of a sampling scheme.
Thus, we may conclude that the primary purpose of ISO 2859-1 is of no relevance for “fa-
cilitating international trade and communication” as it assumes an “isolated” situation
where the consumer is more or less at the mercy of one supplier and, therefore, needs
some means to exert pressure on the supplier.

The second purpose mentioned refers to “an upper limit for the risk of accepting the
occasional poor lot”. At a first glance, the second “purpose” seems to be closer to existing
needs. But for understanding its meaning, one should know the meaning of “risk”, “upper
limit”, “occasional” and, of course, “poor lot”. However, no explanations can be found in
the standard. The “Index of terms used in this part of ISO 2859” does not contain any
of the terms needed to understand the second purpose properly.

In [9] two reasons for applying acceptance sampling in modern industrial environments
are identified. These are legal liability requirements on the one hand and monitoring the
actual quality level on the other. Neither of them is mentioned in ISO 2859-1.

2.2 Limitations of ISO 2859-1

Beside the purpose, the following instruction are given:

Sampling schemes designated in this part of ISO 2859 are applicable, but
not limited, to inspection of a) end items; b) components and raw materials;
c) operations; d) materials in process; e) supplies in storage; f ) maintenance
operations; g) data or records; h) administrative procedures.

These schemes are intended primarily to be used for a continuing series of lots,
that is, a series long enough to allow the switching rules (9.3) to be applied.
These rules provide:
268 Review of Statistical Standards and Specifications

a) a protection to the consumer (by means of a switch to tightened inspec-

tion or discontinuance of sampling inspection) should a deterioration in
quality be detected;
b) an incentive (at the discretion of the responsible authority) to reduce in-
spection costs (by a switch to reduced inspection) should consistently good
quality be achieved.
Sampling plans in this part of ISO 2859 may also be used for the inspection
of lots in isolation but, in this case, the user is strongly advised to consult
the operating characteristic curves to find a plan which will yield the desired
protection (see 12.6). In that case, the user is also referred to the sampling
plans indexed by limiting quality (LQ) given in ISO 2859-2.

Having in mind the primary purpose of ISO 2859-1 to exert pressure assuming a situation
with two opposing parties, one should have expected that situations with respect to the
two parties (supplier and consumer) are listed in order to illustrate possible fields of
application. Listing possible items to be tested must be confusing as in most cases the
two parties cannot be clearly identified and how the different situations with respect to
the nature of items can be incorporated into the basic assumptions.

Next, it is stated that “these schemes are primarily to be used for a continuous series of
lots”, but a few lines further, the reader is confronted with “sampling plans in this part of
ISO 2859 may also be used for the inspection of lots in isolation”. It remains unclear how
long a series of lots must be in order not to be looked upon as isolated lots. Moreover,
there is no case differentiation between series of lots delivered by one or several suppliers.

Moreover, it remains unclear how switching to tightened inspection in case a “quality

deterioration is detected” may lead to “protection”. The only appropriate reaction to
a supplier who delivers continuously changing quality and not consistently good quality
is to select a different supplier. Finally, restricting the advice to “consult the operating
characteristic curves” to cases of isolated lots and not to recommend it in any case is
hardly comprehensible.

3 Performance Criteria of ISO 2859-1

Performance criteria comprise the properties of the procedure or product to be standard-
ized, which are necessary for achieving the purpose. In order to specify such criteria in
an unique and verifiable way, the purpose must not only be clear but also quantified. The
latter is necessary for evaluating the necessity of required properties in an objective way .
In the case of ISO 2859-1, the purpose is twofold, namely to exert pressure on the supplier
and to limit the risk of accepting lots with “occasionally” poor quality.

Neither of these aims is quantified. It is not stated how the pressure on the supplier
is measured and there is no definition of consumer’s risk, which, of course, must be
Review of Statistical Standards and Specifications 269

independent of the provided procedure. There is an entry “consumer’s risk quality” in

Section “Terms, definitions and symbols”, which reads “lot or process quality level that in
the sampling plan corresponds to a specified consumer’s risk” and explains “Consumer’s
risk is usually 10%”. As a consequence of the missing clear definitions, it is not possible
to specify definite performance criteria in the case of ISO 2859-1 and, in fact, no general
performance criteria simultaneously met by each of the provided sampling plans can be
found in this standard.

As a consequence, the performance approach recommended in the general directives for

designing standards cannot be applied in the case of ISO 2859-1.

4 Comprehensibility of ISO 2859-1

Comprehensibility refers mainly to distinctiveness of statements and completeness of in-
structions. Comprehensibility is of utmost importance for avoiding contradictory state-
ments and insignificant information. In order to evaluate ISO 2859-1 with respect to
clarity and comprehensibility the following examples are taken from the section “Terms,
definitions and symbols.”

item that which can be individually described and considered

lot definite amount of some product, material or service, collected together

responsible authority concept used to maintain the neutrality of this part

of ISO 2850 (primarily for specification purposes), irrespective of whether it
is being invoked or applied by the first, second and third party

It appears that the authors of ISO 2859-1 have made an attempt to come up with some
absolute (philosophical) definitions detached from the actual problem to explain the terms
needed for introducing (simple) sampling plans. Having in mind the aim to explain lot
inspection and nothing else, it is hardly possible to guess the meaning of the definitions
given in ISO 2859-1. The authors must have the same feeling, as in many cases, they see
the necessity to further explaine their definitions by supplementary notes. In fact, the
meaning of most of the terms is clear without reading the “definitions”, but reading them
actually generates confusion.

There is another strange fact. The section aims at introducing terms and symbols. How-
ever, the terms and the corresponding symbols are persistently given separately.

The sampling plans shall support special decisions with respect to given lots. There
are three decisions possible: “acceptance with continuation of sampling”, “rejection with
continuation of sampling” and “rejection with discontinuation of sampling”. In order to
assure an appropriate application, the meaning of the three decisions should be stated.
Attempts are made in Section 7 “Acceptance and non-acceptance” and in Section 9 “Nor-
mal, tightened and reduced inspection”. The respective entries are as follows.
270 Review of Statistical Standards and Specifications

Acceptability of lots

Acceptability of a lot shall be determined by the use of a sampling plan or

plans.

The term “non-acceptance” is used in this context for “rejection” when it refers
to the result of following the procedure. Forms of the term “reject” are retained
when they refer to actions the consumer may take, as in “rejection number.”

The obvious difficulties in explaining the meaning of “acceptance” and “non-acceptance”

are probably caused by the primary purpose of the sampling scheme, as “acceptance”
means that no pressure is exerted, while “rejection” may generate pressure. However,
even taking into account the ultimate purpose, the explanations remain obscure. For
example, what kind of consumer’s action (independent of the procedure) is given by
“rejection number”?

Besides rejection of lots, there is another more severe means for exerting pressure on the
supplier provided in the standard, namely discontinuation of inspection. In Section 9 we
find the following two statements:

9.2 Continuation of inspection

Normal, tightened or reduced inspection shall continue unchanged on successive
lots, except where the switching procedures (see 9.3) require the severity of the
inspection to be changed. The switching procedures shall be applied to each
class of nonconformities or nonconforming items independently.

9.4 Discontinuation of inspection

If the cumulative number of lots not accepted in a sequence of consecutive
lots on original tightened inspection reaches 5, the acceptance procedures of
this part of ISO 2859 shall not be resumed until action has to be taken by
the supplier to improve the quality of the submitted product or service, and
the responsible authority has agreed that this action is likely to be effective.
Tightened inspection shall then be used as if 9.3.1 had been invoked.

Apparently, in Section 9.2 not the “continuation of inspection” as indicated by the head-
ing, but the continuation of the different “types of sampling” is subject of the entry,
where the meaning of applying the switching rule independently to classes of noncon-
forming items is unclear.

The directive in 9.4 is unclear and confusing. It says that if five consecutive lots are
rejected by tightened inspection then this part of 2859 (i.e., Part 1) does not anymore
apply, but, unfortunately, it is not mentioned which part applies instead. There is no hint
given, how to deal with lots delivered after the decision of discontinuation of inspection
has been made. Are these lots to be rejected or used according to the original purpose
instead of their bad quality. However, it seems to be clear that the decision to change the
supplier is not considered in ISO 2859-1. Thus, the user is left alone with an irrelevant
purpose and obscure definitions and directives.
Review of Statistical Standards and Specifications 271

The procedures in ISO 2959-1 aiming at exerting pressure on the supplier are “indexed
in terms of the Acceptance Quality Limit3 (AQL)”. Thus, the AQL plays a decisive role
and its selection heavily determines the performance of the procedure, thus necessitating
a clear definition of the AQL.

4.1 Acceptance Quality Limit

In Section 3 “Terminology and definitions” of ISO 2859-1, it is said:

acceptance quality limit (AQL): quality level that is the worst tolerable
process average when a continuing series of lots is submitted for acceptance
sampling

Note 1 This concept only applies when a sampling scheme with rules for
switching and for discontinuation, such as in ISO 2859-1 or ISO 3951, is used.

NOTE 2 Although individual lots with quality as bad as the acceptance qual-
ity limit may be accepted with fairly high probability, the designation of an
acceptance quality limit does not suggest that this is a desirable quality level.
Sampling schemes found in International Standards such as this part of ISO
2859, with their rules for switching and for discontinuation of sampling inspec-
tion, are designed to encourage suppliers to have process averages consistently
better than the AQL. Otherwise, there is a high risk that the inspection severity
will be switched to tightened inspection under which the criteria for lot accep-
tance become more demanding. Once on tightened inspection, unless action is
taken to improve the process, it is very likely that the rule requiring discontin-
uation of sampling inspection pending such improvement will be invoked.

It is a characteristic feature of ISO 2859 that many of the definitions or explanations need
additional explanations in form of notes serving as explanations of the explanation.

The self posed general requirements for ISO standards demand among other things that
the document shall be “consistent, clear and accurate”. The above definition is inconsis-
tent, unclear an inaccurate. It is inconsistent as on the one hand a series of lots is required
for applying “this concept” (probably the AQL concept?) and on the other hand isolated
lots are explicitly admitted; it is unclear as the meaning of “for the purpose of sampling
inspection” is not stated; and it is inaccurate as neither the process average nor the limit
of a satisfactory process average are exemplified.

There is another attempt made in ISO 2859-1 to introduce properly the term AQL. Section
5 of ISO 2859-1 is headed “Acceptance quality limit (AQL)” and, therefore, one could
hope that it contains a more satisfactory definition of the fundamental concept AQL, as
otherwise a rational selection would be impossible. Unfortunately, there is no subsection
containing a definition, instead, there are three subsections headed “Use and application”,
3
Better known as “Acceptable Quality Level”.
272 Review of Statistical Standards and Specifications

“Specifying AQLs” and “Preferred AQLs”. The main parts of these subsections are cited
and briefly commented below.

5.1. Use and application

The AQL, together with the sample size code letter (see 10.2), is used for
indexing the sampling plans and schemes provided in this part of ISO 2859.

When a specific value of the AQL is designated for a certain nonconformity

or group of nonconformities, it indicates that the sampling scheme will accept
the great majority of the lots submitted, provided the quality level (percent
nonconforming or nonconformities per 100 items) in these lots is no greater
than the designated value of AQL. The sampling plans provided are so arranged
that the probability of acceptance at the designated AQL value depends upon
the sample size for a given AQL, being generally higher for large samples than
for small ones.

The AQL is a parameter of the sampling scheme and should not be confused
with the process average which describes the operating level of the manufactur-
ing process. It is expected that the process average will be less than or equal to
the AQL to avoid excessive rejections under this system.

CAUTION: The designation of an AQL shall not imply that the

supplier has the right knowingly to supply any nonconforming item.

In 3.6 it is said that the AQL “is the limit of a satisfactory process average”, however,
in 5.1 we learn that the AQL is a designated value of percent nonconforming (or noncon-
formities per 100 units) that will be accepted most of the time by the sampling scheme to
be used. To make things even more confusing, the acceptance probability depends upon
the sample size. It appears that the AQL is a quantity related in a rather obscure way
to something called process average and to the probability of acceptance, which itself is
related to the sample size. The process average is vaguely circumscribed by an operating
level. And the notice not to interpret the AQL as a right of a supplier to deliver knowingly
nonconforming items does not at all contribute to more clarity.

In order to select an AQL value in a rational way, one should know its meaning. Unfor-
tunately, this is not possible as it is not stated clearly in the standard. Therefore, one
might hope to learn it from the next subsection.

5.2 Specifying AQLs

The AQL to be used shall be designated in the contract or by (or in accordance

with the prescription laid down b) the responsible authority. Different AQLs
may be designated for groups of nonconformities considered collectively or for
individual nonconformities as defined in 3.1.5. The classification into groups
should be appropriate to the quality requirements of the specific situation. An
AQL for a group of nonconformities may be designated in addition to AQLs
Review of Statistical Standards and Specifications 273

for individual nonconformities, or subgroups, within that group. When the

quality level is expressed as percent of nonconforming items (3.1.8 and 3.1.9),
AQL values shall not exceed 10 % nonconforming. When the quality level is
expressed as number of nonconformities per 100 items (3.1.10 and 3.1.11),
AQL values up to 1000 nonconformities per 100 items ma be used.

Again, hoping was in vain. It is said that the “responsible authority” (= “concept used
to maintain neutrality . . .”) shall designate the value and that the AQL shall not exceed
10% (!) when the quality level is expressed as percent of nonconforming item (= “that
which can be individually described and considered”). Anyway it is comforting that the
standard admits to select in different situations different values for the AQL.

5.3 Preferred AQLs

The series of values of AQLs given in the tables are known as the preferred
series of AQLs. If, for any product, an AQL is designated other than one of
these values, these tables are not applicable.

Evidently, no clarification about the meaning of the AQL is given. The tabulated values
are called “preferred AQLs” probably because they are tabulated, but not because they
are marked by any favorable property.

5 Technological Status of ISO 2859-1

The International Organization of Standardization pretends that its standards represent
the state of the art. Referring to the primary aim of ISO 2859-1, one should consult a
psychologist to answer the question whether or not it represents the state of the art. As
to statistics, ISO 2859-1 does definitely not represent the state of the art. It was basically
designed many decades ago in the 1950s and all its essential parts remained unchanged
while statistics has experienced an immense progress during the last half century. The
fact that some statistical methods are incorporated in ISO 2859-1 and its precursors, the
military standards, is not sufficient for classifying them as statistical procedures. Their
main objective has been and is to exert pressure on the suppliers of material and not to
determine the quality of the lots by drawing a sample.

The justification of the statement that ISO 2859-1 cannot be looked upon as a statistical
method becomes obvious when looking at the withdrawn version of ISO 2859-1 from 1989,
where it is very clearly stated Section 1 “Scope”.

This part of ISO 2859 is not intended as a procedure for estimating lot quality
or for segregating lots.
274 Review of Statistical Standards and Specifications

It is unclear why this addendum has been abandoned in the actual version. However, it
shows that ISO 2859 does not pursue any clear statistical aim, as statistical aims could
be

• to determine (estimate) lot quality,

• to determine (estimate) process quality in case a production process can be identi-

fied,

• to sort-out lots of poor quality.

These aims cannot be found in the purpose of the actual version and have been explicitly
excluded from the purpose in a past version.

6 Conclusion
ISO 2859-1 (1999) has almost 100 pages with more than 65 pages of tables. There are no
requirements expressed in terms of performance, but all requirements are given by design
or descriptive characteristics in form of tables. The excessive number of tables is necessary
because the sampling scheme cannot be characterized by global (statistical) performance
properties. Each sampling plan performs differently and, therefore, needs special tables
for illustration.

In view of the primary objective of ISO 2859-1 to exert psychological pressure on the
supplier, the question whether it hinders or advances technological development is idle, as
exerting psychological pressure is not part of technology. However, ISO 2859-1 is widely
used in industry for assessing the quality of lots and for sorting-out poor quality. This
erroneous application is abetted by the fact that in the US military and civilian precursors
of ISO 2859-1 and also in the textbooks on statistical quality control the actual purpose
was and is not mentioned. For instance, the American National Standard ANSI/ASQC
Z1.4-1981 which corresponds directly to MIL-STD-105D states the following “purpose”:

This publication establishes sampling plans and procedures for inspection by

attributes. When specified by the responsible authority, this publication shall
be referenced in the specification, contract, inspection instruction, or other
documents and provisions set forth herein shall govern. The “responsible au-
thority” shall be designated in one of the above documents, as agreed to by
purchaser and seller or producer and user.

As the primary purpose (exerting pressure) of ISO 2859-1 has been not explicitly stated
for many decades, ISO 2859-1 has been considered erroneously as a statistical standard
aiming at assessing the quality of incoming or outgoing lots. Moreover, being an ISO
standard, it is mistaken as the state of art and recommended in courses and textbooks on
Review of Statistical Standards and Specifications 275

quality control. Finally, its implementation is often considered as a necessary condition

of getting certified according to the ISO 9000 series. All these facts have led to the wrong
belief in industry that AQL-sampling schemes may be used for an efficient product quality
control.

Many of the above arguments are not new. Moreover, in a series of papers by v. Collani
[4, 5] and Göb [10, 12] some more fundamental deficiencies of AQL-sampling plans were
revealed and discussed. The International Organization of Standardization has reacted
on these findings by slightly changing the wording instead of seriously considering the
needs of industry by developing and offering statistical standards instead of military or
psychological standards.

References
[1] American National Standard (1978): Sampling Procedures and Tables for Inspection
by Attribute. American Society for Quality Control, Wisconsin.

[2] American National Standard (1981): Terms, Symbols and Definitions for Acceptance
Sampling. American Society for Quality Control, Wisconsin.

[3] Banks, J. (1989): Principles of Quality Control. John Wiley & Sons, New York.

[4] v. Collani, E. (1991): A Note on Acceptance Sampling by Variables. Metrika 38,

19 - 36.

[5] v. Collani, E. (1992): The Pitfall of Variables Sampling. In: Frontiers in Statistical
Quality Control 4, Physica Verlag, Heidelberg, 91 - 99.

[6] v. Collani, E. & K. Dräger (2001): Binomial Distribution Handbook for Scientists
and Engineers. Birkhäuser, Boston.

[7] v. Collani, E. (2004): Theoretical Stochastics. In: Defining the Science of Stochas-
tics. Ed. E. v. Collani, Heldermann Verlag, Lemgo, 147-174.

[8] v. Collani, E. (2004): Empirical Stochastics. In: Defining the Science of Stochastics.
Ed. E. v. Collani, Heldermann Verlag, Lemgo, 175-213.

[9] v. Collani, E. and Palcat, F. (2004): How some ISO standards complicate quality
improvement. In: Proceedings of the VIII International Workshop on ISQC’04, Eds:
Grzegorzewski, P., Mrowka, E., Hryniewicz, O., Lenz, H.L., Wilrich, P.Th., Warsaw,
45-59.

[10] Göb, R. (1996): An Elementary Model of Statistical Lot Inspection and its Appli-
cation to Sampling Variables. Metrika 44, 135-163.
276 Review of Statistical Standards and Specifications

[11] Göb, R. (1996): Test of Significance for the Mean of a Finite Lot. Metrika 44,
223-238.

[12] Göb, R. (2001): Methodological Foundation of Statistical Lot Inspection. In: Fron-
tiers in Statistical Quality Control 6, Physica Verlag, Heidelberg, 3-24.

[13] Dodge, H.F. (1969): Note on the Evolution of Acceptance Sampling Plans, Part II.
Journal of Quality Technology 1, 155-162.

[14] Duncan, A.J. (1965): Quality Control and Industrial Statistics. 3rd ed., Richard D.
Irwin, Homewood.

[15] Duncan, A.J. (1972): Quality Standards. Journal of Quality Technology 4, 102-109.

[16] Juran, J.M. (1962): Quality Control Handbook. 2nd ed., McGraw-Hill, New York.

[17] Kendall, M.G. W.R. Buckland (1960): A Dictionary of Statistical Terms. 2nd ed.,
Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh.

[18] Kotz, S. N.J. Johnson (1981): Encyclopedia of Statistical Sciences., Vol. 1, John
Wiley & Sons, New York.

[19] Schilling, E.G. (1892): Acceptance Sampling in Quality Control. Marcel Dekker,
New York.

[20] ISO 2859-1 (1989): Sampling procedures for inspection by attribute - Part 1. Inter-
national Organization for Standardization, Geneva.

[21] ISO TC 69 Application of statistical methods (2003): Business Plan 2003. Interna-
tional Organization for Standardization, Geneva.

Elart von Collani

University of Würzburg
Sanderring 2
D-97070 Würzburg
Germany

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