Inspection procedures in manufacturing processes: recent studies and research perspectives

Quality inspections are performed in almost every production system to prevent nonconforming products from reaching final customers or end users. Quality inspections are typically performed referring to specific inspection procedures, depending on the production process. Two general inspection paradigms may be identified: online inspection and offline inspection. These are differentiated by the way in which inspections are made. The paper presents a recent survey on new studies on inspection procedures for both paradigms. The main novelty of the study is the identification of new research perspectives in such a highly explored field. New schemes of analysis allow highlighting the research areas which are not adequately covered by the literature. A brief examination of some bibliometric aspects is also proposed.