Evaluation of design requirements using fuzzy outranking methods

To increase customer satisfaction, quality function deployment is used to translate customer needs into technical design requirements (DRs). Determination of DRs for product development is very important because these requirements are the vital keys to successful products. The methods used to evaluate DRs in the literature can be categorized into multicriteria evaluation methods such as scoring methods, the analytic hierarchy method, analytic network process, and so forth. There are few papers using fuzzy multi‐attribute outranking methods to evaluate DRs. This article aims to compare the results of three different fuzzy outranking methods to evaluate the DRs in the PVC windows industry. A sensitivity analysis is also made by using the software, FOuR. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Int Syst 22: 1229–1250, 2007.     

Selection of industrial robots using compromise ranking and outranking methods

Selection of a robot for a specific industrial application is one of the most challenging problems in real time manufacturing environment. It has become more and more complicated due to increase in complexity, advanced features and facilities that are continuously being incorporated into the robots by different manufacturers. At present, different types of industrial robots with diverse capabilities, features, facilities and specifications are available in the market. Manufacturing environment, product design, production system and cost involved are some of the most influencing factors that directly affect the robot selection decision. The decision maker needs to identify and select the best suited robot in order to achieve the desired output with minimum cost and specific application ability. This paper attempts to solve the robot selection problem using two most appropriate multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods and compares their relative performance for a given industrial application. The first MCDM approach is ‘VIsekriterijumsko KOmpromisno Rangiranje’ (VIKOR), a compromise ranking method and the other one is ‘ELimination and Et Choice Translating REality’ (ELECTRE), an outranking method. Two real time examples are cited in order to demonstrate and validate the applicability and potentiality of both these MCDM methods. It is observed that the relative rankings of the alternative robots as obtained using these two MCDM methods match quite well with those as derived by the past researchers.     

World trends of importance to intelligent robotic CIM systems

The reduction to practice of the concept of computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) has moved painfully slowly in the more than 20 years since it came into being. However, within the past five years a very important world trend has emerged, namely a major commitment on the part of industry toward realistic and substantial accomplishment, in practice, of full computer-based integration of the overall system of manufacturing. With the emergence of the goal of accomplishing fully robotic operation of the technological system of manufacturing, and of the concept of the intelligent manufacturing system, the overall trend has now become one toward realization, in practice, of the computer-integrated intelligent robotic manufacturing system. That trend has generated important corollary trends which fall into two main categories, namely, enabling technologies for integration of the system of manufacturing and enabling technologies for imparting artificial intelligence to that system, both of which are required for accomplishing fully robotic operation of the technological system of manufacturing.     

A multiple criteria supplier segmentation using outranking and value function methods

Suppliers play a key role in supply chain management which involves evaluation for supplier selection problem, as well as other complex issues that companies should take into account. The purpose of this research is to develop and test an integrated system, which allows qualifying providers and also supplier segmentation by monitoring their performance based on a multiple criteria tool for systematic decision making. This proposal consists in a general procedure to assess suppliers based mainly on exploiting all reliable databases of the company. Firstly, for each group of products, their evaluation criteria are defined collaboratively in order to determine their critical and strategic performance, which are then integrated with other criteria that are specific of the suppliers and represent relevant aspects for the company, also classified by critical and strategic dimensions. Two multiple criteria methods, compensatory and non-compensatory, are used and compared so as to point out their strengths, weaknesses and flexibility for the supplier evaluation in different contexts, which are usually relevant in the supply chain management. A value function approach is the appropriate method to qualify providers to be included in the panel of approved suppliers of the company as this process depends only on own features of the supplier. On the other hand, outranking methods such as PROMETHEE have shown greater potential and robustness to develop portfolios with suppliers that should be partners of the company, as well as to identify other types of relationships, such as long term contracts, market policies or to highlight those to be removed from their portfolio. These results and conclusions are based on an empirical research in a multinational company for food, pharmaceuticals and chemicals. This system has shown a great impact as it represents the first supplier segmentation proposal applied to industry, in which decision making not only takes into account opinions and judgements, but also integrates historical data and expert knowledge. This approach provides a robust support system to inform operative, tactical and strategic decisions, which is very relevant when applying an advanced management in practice.     

Selection of a representative set of parameters for robust ordinal regression outranking methods

We introduce the concept of a representative set of parameters for multiple criteria outranking methods: ELECTRE^GKMS and PROMETHEE^GKS which apply the principle of robust ordinal regression. We exploit the necessary and the possible results provided by these methods to choose a single instance of the preference model, which would represent all other compatible instances. The representative set of parameters is selected within an interactive preference-driven procedure which allows combining some pre-defined targets into different scenarios. Each target concerns enhancement of the results of robust ordinal regression. Precisely, the DM may emphasize either the advantage of some alternatives over the others, acknowledged by all compatible outranking models, or ambiguity in the comparison for some other pairs of alternatives. Selecting the representative set of parameters, we satisfy the desire of some DMs of assigning precise values to variables of the model. We also enable exploitation of the outranking relation for these parameters in order to arrive at a representative recommendation in a traditional way.     

Self-organizing learning array and its application to economic and financial problems

A new self-organizing learning array (SOLAR) system has been implemented in software. It is an information theory based learning machine capable of handling a wide variety of classification problems. It has self-reconfigurable processing cells (neurons) and an evolvable system structure. Entropy based learning is performed locally at each neuron, where neural functions and connections that correspond to the minimum entropy are adaptively learned. By choosing connections for each neuron, the system sets up the wiring and completes its self-organization. SOLAR classifies input data based on weighted statistical information from all neurons. Unlike artificial neural networks, its multi-layer structure scales well to large systems capable of solving complex pattern recognition and classification tasks. This paper shows its application in economic and financial fields. A reference to influence diagrams is also discussed. Several prediction and classification cases are studied. The results have been compared with the existing methods.     

Structuring and configuration of CIM systems for branch-specific medium-sized enterprises

Strong international competition makes it necessary for an enterprise to reduce organizational overhead and costs. This goal can be reached by integrating of the available islands of automation. This integration would be facilitated greatly if there were a generally agreed upon architectural structure in which the software modules of the various vendors could operate. CIMOSA (computer integrated manufacturing—open system architecture) aims at providing such an architectural structure and strives to become a European standard. An important part of CIMOSA consists of the enterprise model. In this article the results of a project are described which is aimed at the validation of CIMOSA in a typical SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) environment. In a first step, the CIMOSA partial and particular models for SMEs were developed. The authors developed a coarse model of the order management and a detailed model of the future concept of the CAD/PPC interface. In order to master the increasing complexity of the planning of software systems of an enterprise, new planning methods and tools are required. Thus in the second part, an integrated approach to software system planning and selection based on CIMOSA enterprise models was developed. The underlying idea of the approach is the conversion of the planning problem into an equivalent constraint satisfaction problem. The conversion process can be accomplished fully automatically. To interconnect a real system, in a lot of cases, it is required to configure data conversion modules. In the third part, the article focuses on a configuration system which allows a straightforward configuration of the data conversion modules.     

Parallel programming of economic systems with the use of decomposition methods

An algorithm based on parallel programming technology is proposed for solving coordination problems in decentralized local economic models. Examples of decomposition methods for linear distributed systems are considered. The software tools for the solution of these problems are supplied by the PARUS programming system.Translated from Kibernetika, No. 3, pp. 105–110, May–June 1990.     

Developing and implementing CIM systems for process manufacturers and distributors

This paper will present how Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) has evolved from a concept to an emerging practice amoung many manufacturers. It will focus on practices and systems implementations currently being undertaken today in two of the fastest growing currently being undertaken today in two of the faster growing environments. It will discuss the application modules and support programs necessary of a successful CIM implementation. Case studies and examples will be presented.     

Novel feature selection methods to financial distress prediction

Financially distressed prediction (FDP) has been a widely and continually studied topic in the field of corporate finance. One of the core problems to FDP is to design effective feature selection algorithms. In contrast to existing approaches, we propose an integrated approach to feature selection for the FDP problem that embeds expert knowledge with the wrapper method. The financial features are categorized into seven classes according to their financial semantics based on experts’ domain knowledge surveyed from literature. We then apply the wrapper method to search for “good” feature subsets consisting of top candidates from each feature class. For concept verification, we compare several scholars’ models as well as leading feature selection methods with the proposed method. Our empirical experiment indicates that the prediction model based on the feature set selected by the proposed method outperforms those models based on traditional feature selection methods in terms of prediction accuracy.     

基于面向对象数据库的CIM应用

公共信息模型(CIM,Common Information Model)是解决"信息孤岛"问题的有效手段,CIM基于UML实现面向对象的建模,模型在传统关系型数据库中的表示方式一直存在不匹配的问题,本文采用面向对象数据库对CIM进行存储,通过面向对象数据库查询技术实现CIM的实际应用,从而解决了元模型到关系数据库的映射难题,易于数据库的后期维护和模型的升级。     

An object-oriented approach to modeling financial accounting systems

This paper analyzes the requirements of a financial accounting system and compares an object-oriented data model with the relational data model as a vehicle for meeting these requirements. It is shown that the relational data model, despite its market dominance, is not an effective tool for modeling financial accounting systems. Its deficiency stems from a want of intrinsic capability to model generalizing abstractions and complex structures and a lack of control over accounting procedures. In contrast, an object-oriented model supports generalizing abstractions and complex data structures. Also, the encapsulation of behavior within an object provides a means for modeling accounting procedures. These features promote a design that integrates accounting structures and accounting procedures and help create a system that is friendly, modular, and reliable. This paper also proposes the idea of establishing a library of accounting objects as building blocks to configure new accounting systems. A discussion of some future research directions concludes the paper.     

The social shaping of technology and work: Human centred CIM systems

This paper decribes the theoretical and methodological issues involved in the social shaping of technology and work, with particular reference to human centred computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) systems. Conventional approaches to the understanding and shaping of the relationship between technology, work and human development are criticised, and an alternative, human centred approach is outlined. The methods and processes whereby the design of human centred CIM systems may be shaped and evaluated are then described and appraised.     

Post-implementation practices of ERP systems and their relationship to financial performance

Using econometric analysis, this study provides empirical evidence to support a cause-and-effect relationship of managerial actions to financial performance in a post-ERP implementation stage. Senior information systems managers reveal the state of affairs, providing a snapshot reference during that time period. Financial figures were collected for firms who were matched to our survey instrument. Regression analysis establishes that increased technological competence affects net sales, relationships with outside experts affect earnings, return-on-assets and return-on-investment, top management support affects net sales and net income, long-range planning negatively affects earnings, and the sharing of information between departments affects net income, return-on-assets and return-on-investments.     

A modular and integratable approach to CIM

The factory of the future holds the promise of improved productivity and efficiency through the computerization of manufacturing applications. To fulfill this promise, computer technologies must provide superior results for each targeted manufacturing application. One approach to providing those superior results takes advantage of the natural evolution of manufacturing operations, a modular set of computeraided applications that can be integrated. Each module provides a “pocket of excellence” that can be integrated through networking as and when such communication becomes advantageous. Graphics workstation technology has provided dramatic improvements in performance, at price levels attractive to more segments of the industry than ever thought possible. Modular systems already exist that take advantage of this technological explosion through application software tailored to specific manufacturing functions. Communications between these modular applications can be achieved by networking but only at the discretion of the user, not at the discretion of the vendor. This paper will discuss how industry can increase productivity and efficiency by adopting a modular computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) approach that is practical.     

通用信息模型在电力信息化建设中的应用

随着电力信息化的发展,通用信息模型CIM的应用越来越受到人们的关注。该文针对电力企业信息化建设的现状,简要叙述了CIM的定义及其特点,对当前CIM的应用进行了分析概括,介绍了当前CIM在电力系统不同方面的应用成果。最后,结合UIB和COBRA等中间件技术,提出了CIM的应用研究展望。     

CIM\XML在DTS/EMS一体化中的应用

为了更好地解决电力企业各应用系统互操作性问题，同时积极跟进IEC61970标准开发进程，提出了一种采用公共信息模型（CIM）为标准接口。以可扩展标识语言（XML）作为数据交换方式的电力系统模型交换体系，重点阐述了CIM＼XML文档的生成技术，并结合DTS项目设计，实现了一个基于CIM＼XML的数据导入导出系统，并验证了EMS不同系统间信息交换的可行性。