A metaheuristic method for optimising inspection strategies in serial multistage processes

Efficient quality control is a major issue for most companies. As they establish inspection systems to achieve quality and invest large amounts in these systems, inspection management problems and implementation of an efficient inspection strategy become much important. For a serial multistage process, every inspection strategy includes three decision parameters: the allocation of inspection stations, the acceptance limits and the extent of inspection. In this paper, a new solution algorithm is developed using a metaheuristic method, i.e., simulated annealing, to find the optimal inspection strategy for a serial multistage process. The total inspection cost is considered as the objective function which should be minimised. The practicality of the proposed solution algorithm is illustrated through a numerical example and the results are investigated.