Sampling 
You can use this component to detect possible process problems and identify nonconforming product early in the manufacturing process to prevent excess rework or scrap cost.
A sample-based approach to in-process inspection balances the risk to quality against the costs of performing inspections. Inspection is often conducted at certain process points to detect and eliminate problems at minimum cost.
You can perform sampling on both serialized and non-serialized SFC numbers. Non-serialized SFC numbers selected for sampling are split, if only partial quantity is selected for sampling.
Note
Panelized SFC numbers are excluded from sampling and are automatically completed.
The decision about the quality of the sample (whether the sample is accepted or rejected) depends on the total severity of the NC codes that were logged for the sample SFC numbers.
SFC accept/reject decision depends on total severity of logged NC codes and NC severity threshold defined in the sample plan. The severity of each NC code logged against an SFC number on the sample routing is summed and then total is compared with the NC severity threshold value defined in the sample plan. If this total value equals or exceeds the threshold, SFC number is rejected.
SFC group accept/reject decision depends on the quantity of rejected SFC numbers in the SFC group and on the reject number defined in the sample plan. If the quantity of rejected SFC numbers equals or exceeds the reject number defined in the sample plan, the whole group is rejected.
Implementation Considerations
When you set up sampling for your site, you decide the following:
Whether your sampling process should confirm to ANSI standards or have custom settings
How strict the sampling procedure should be
When the sampling should occur
What messages will be displayed to the operator and whether the operator is allowed to skip the sampling process
Features
Sampling involves the following features:
Creating a sample plan
SAP ME provides two types of sample plan offering a flexible approach to defining a sample plan needs to accommodate various quality policies and inspection strategies. You define a sample plan in Sample Plan Maintenance. For more information, see Sample Plan.
Attaching a sample plan to objects representing the material for which, and when in the process, sampling shall occur
You can attach one or more sample plans to any operation for operators to perform sampling at this operation and to the material (or group of materials) to be sampled. For more information, see Sample Plan.
Working in the Production Operator Dashboard (POD)
At the defined sampling operation, the user selects SFC numbers for the defined material in the POD Work list and performs sampling for these SFC numbers. The system checks that there is a sample plan defined for the SFC numbers selected and creates the SFC group that meets the SFC Group Size. For more information, see SFC Group and Working with SFC Numbers on the Sample Routing.
Processing sample SFC numbers on the sample routing
All sample SFC numbers are moved to the sample routing defined in the sample plan (see Working with SFC Numbers on the Sample Routing).
All non-sample SFC numbers of the group remain on the production routing and await the group result.
Logging NC codes for defects of any sample SFC number
In Log NC activity, the operator can log NC codes for anything that does not comply with the quality specifications when working with sample SFC numbers on the sample routing (see Log NC). When the sample SFC numbers are done at the sample routing, each sample SFC number is either accepted or rejected based on the total NC severity of the NC codes logged for this SFC number at the sample routing. Then sample SFC numbers are dispositioned to the next operation on the production routing.
Accepting or rejecting sample SFC numbers
Once the SFC group’s Reject Number is reached, the entire SFC group is considered as rejected and all non-sample SFC numbers are also dispositioned to the sample routing where all SFC numbers in this group are inspected. If the SFC group is accepted, then all members of this group are automatically moved to the next operation on the production routing.
Viewing the SFC Group Report to keep track of sample plan editing (see SFC Group Report)
The figure below illustrates the primary flow of user actions when performing sampling:
The figure below illustrates the detailed flow of user actions when performing sampling on the production routing:
The figure below illustrates the detailed flow of user actions when performing sampling on the sample routing (see Working with SFC Numbers on the Sample Routing):
