A Performer-Oriented Approach to Systems Quality

The objective of this paper is to present a means of modeling the quality characteristics of a large class of systems. The proposed models depend upon the use of a state variable to describe the quality level at various points in the system and upon, transition matrices to describe the error-producing and error-detecting characteristics of the individual servers and machines that compose the system. Applications of the model to linear, cyclic, and branching systems are developed in detail. Ultimately the model may be used to optimize the number, type, and location of quality control components or to optimize the performance of systems operating under risk.