Thank you for your input. We measure QA expenses in the traditional financial accounting measures, but also using COQ - measuring costs of preventive measures, appraisal/inspection tasks, and failures (internal/external). Of course, we are seeking this information to benchmark where we are and ultimately the senior management is looking to reduce, but my hope is that is to prove that we already run a tight ship and are below industry standards.
We manufacture food bases and dry mixes, if that helps. As far as sampling, we use a risk-based sampling approach to incoming ingredients based on vendor compliance and product risk. For finished products, we sample every batch. In my experience, this similar to what other companies to do in our industry. Does anyone have any other approaches?