Continuous sampling plan design for processes with inspection errors and uncertainty, motivated by applications in biosecurity

Belinda Barnes, Mahdi Parsa and Marco Kienzle

European Journal of Operational Research, 2026, vol. 329, issue 3, 908-919

Abstract: Continuous sampling plans (CSPs) are adaptive control mechanisms that switch between inspection intensities to ensure acceptable quality in production lines. Recently they have been adopted in biosecurity operations, to mitigate the risk of introducing exotic pests and diseases by optimising inspection protocols as goods cross international borders. Because of imperfect sampling methods, operational practicalities and the potential consequences of failure, integrating uncertainty into the design of these systems is particularly important. This paper provides a comprehensive analytical framework for CSP policy design and evaluation, which is relevant to a wide range of CSPs (including CSP-1, CSP and CSP-3) and addresses the impact of inspection errors and uncertainty. The approach taken clarifies how system controls and parameters interact and is fast and accurate — including when the prevalence of contamination is low as is typical in biosecurity applications. We also show how our closed-form results support the optimisation of CSP control parameters under cost–risk trade-offs. These analytical results offer a particularly robust and powerful means of CSP design and optimisation, improving operational reliability under uncertainty.

Keywords: Quality control; Continuous sampling plan; Uncertainty; Analytical distributions; Biosecurity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ejores:v:329:y:2026:i:3:p:908-919

DOI: 10.1016/j.ejor.2025.10.011

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