A new method selection approach for fuzzy group multicriteria decision making

Fuzzy multicriteria decision making (MCDM) has been widely used in ranking a finite number of decision alternatives characterized by fuzzy assessments with respect to multiple criteria. In group decision settings, different fuzzy group MCDM methods often produce inconsistent ranking outcomes for the same problem. To address the ranking inconsistency problem in fuzzy group MCDM, this paper develops a new method selection approach for selecting a fuzzy group MCDM method that produces the most preferred group ranking outcome for a given problem. Based on two group averaging methods, three aggregation procedures and three defuzzification methods, 18 fuzzy group MCDM methods are developed as an illustration to solve the general fuzzy MCDM problem that requires cardinal ranking of the decision alternatives. The approach selects the group ranking outcome of a fuzzy MCDM method which has the highest consistency degree with its corresponding ranking outcomes of individual decision makers. An empirical study on the green bus fuel technology selection problem is used to illustrate how the approach works. The approach is applicable to large-scale group multicriteria decision problems where inconsistent ranking outcomes often exist between different fuzzy MCDM methods.     

Decision making in equipment selection: an integrated approach with AHP and PROMETHEE

Multi-attribute equipment selection is a very important issue for an effective manufacturing system, since the improper equipment selection might cause many problems affecting productivity, precision, flexibility and quality of the products negatively. On the other hand, selecting the best equipment among many alternatives is a multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) problem. In this study, an integrated approach which employs analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and preference ranking organization method for enrichment evaluations (PROMETHEE) together, is proposed for the equipment selection problem. The AHP is used to analyze the structure of the equipment selection problem and to determine weights of the criteria, and PROMETHEE method is used to obtain final ranking, and to make a sensitivity analysis by changing the weights. Proposed approach is applied to a problem of selecting milling machines to be purchased in an international company. Company management found the application and results satisfactory and implementable in their equipment selection decisions.     

A fuzzy Full Consistency Method-Dombi-Bonferroni model for prioritizing transportation demand management measures

The selection and prioritization of appropriate Transportation Demand Management (TDM) measures is a common problem faced by transport planners and decision makers. The problem involves many uncertainties due to changing economic conditions, uncertainty in project success, changes in mobility and population characteristics etc. In this study, the multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) based fuzzy Full Consistency Method-Dombi-Bonferroni (fuzzy FUCOM-D’Bonferroni) model is proposed for a case study in Istanbul’s urban mobility system. Istanbul’s historical peninsula is considered to be a pilot area for the implementation of TDM projects by the local government. The proposed model is compared with other well-known four MCDM methods in order to show its validity and consistency. The results show that public transport capacity improvements is the best alternative among the other TDM measures.     

A decision-making module for aiding ship system automation design: A knowledge-based approach

The use of elements of artificial intelligence, including knowledge-based systems, becomes more and more widespread in aiding design problem solutions. The authors have been working on problems of control systems for many years. A design process involves many decision problems connected with, for example, a choice of a subsystem structure, subunits or particular elements selection. Because of such regards, it was decided to extend knowledge-based system with a module for support of such decision making.In this paper, an elaborated module for decision-making support is considered. The basic theoretical assumptions concerning the accepted method of multiattribute decision making based on pairwise comparison in categories of hierarchical decision process (AHP) is presented. Accepted knowledge representation in AHP method and pairwise comparison method and methods of expert knowledge acquisition are discussed. The module functioning is illustrated by an example of choice of temperature sensors in a system of fuel transport to Diesel engine of a main propulsion unit of a ship.     

A new flexible and reliable interval valued fuzzy VIKOR method based on uncertainty risk reduction in decision making process: An application for determining a suitable location for digging some pits for municipal wet waste landfill

Facility location selection problem is one of the challenging and famous kinds of MCDM problems including both quantitative and qualitative criteria. For each Multiple Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) problem, when the ratings of alternatives with respect to the criteria and/or the values of criteria’s weights are presented by Interval Valued Fuzzy Numbers (IVFNs), the conventional fuzzy MCDM methods (Type-1 fuzzy MCDM methods) tend to be less effective. Therefore, the IVF-MCDM (Interval Valued Fuzzy MCDM) methods should be applied for solving such fuzzy MCDM problems. In this paper, we propose an IVF-VIKOR (VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje) method based on uncertainty risk reduction in decision making process. By using such method, the reliability of the captured decisions in an IVF decision making problem is significantly increased. The proposed method is applied for solving two numerical examples that the former of which is a real application problem related to selecting a suitable location for digging some pits for municipal wet waste landfill in one of the largest cities in Iran. The second numerical example is presented with an aim of comparing our method with the two other IVF-MCDM methods. As a result, we found out the proposed method is reliable and practical for the facility location selection problems and other MCDM problems. Moreover, the proposed method has a considerable accuracy and is flexible and easy to use.     

Application of a new combined intuitionistic fuzzy MCDM approach based on axiomatic design methodology for the supplier selection problem

Evaluating and selecting a suitable supplier is a complex problem which involves a number of different criteria. In literature, there are various multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) methods available with their own characteristic features. The focus of this study is intuitionistic fuzzy (IF) MCDM methods which have attracted much attention from academics and practitioners in recent years. IF sets are widely used to tackle imprecise and uncertain decision information in decision making due to their capability of accommodating the hesitation in human decision processes. This study proposes a new integrated methodology that is used for the first time in the literature. This approach consists of intuitionistic fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (IFAHP), an MCDM technique, for determining the weights of supplier evaluation criteria, and the concept of intuitionistic fuzzy axiomatic design (IFAD) principles for ranking competing supplier alternatives with respect to their overall performance. Decision makers’ assessments and opinions are extended to the IF environment in this approach and furthermore, the group decision making (GDM) approach is utilized in order to overcome uncertainties and vagueness, minimize the partiality of decision process and to avoid bias. This study contributes to supplier selection and IF sets literature by providing a combined framework based on IFAHP and IFAD methodology for the first time. To assess the validity of the proposed integrated IF MCDM approach, a case study from Turkey is provided. This study can be useful to researchers in better understanding the supplier selection problem theoretically, as well as to organizations in designing better satisfying supplier evaluation systems.     

A De Novo multi-approaches multi-criteria decision making technique with an application in performance evaluation of material handling device

Application of multiple conventional approaches to a particular multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) problem often suffers rank reversal giving rise to confusion and ambiguity in appropriate decision making. To eradicate the confusion, this paper proposes a De Novo multi-approaches multi-criteria decision making method namely Technique of Precise Order Preference (TPOP). The TPOP first examines the inconsistency in the ranking order of the alternatives of a MCDM problem by using multiple conventional approaches. If inconsistency/rank reversal in ranking order of the alternatives exists then TPOP, using advanced version of entropy weighting method introduced in this research work, measures weights of the final selection values of conventional approaches. Subsequently, TPOP based on these weights and final selection values computes precise selection indices (PSI) that determines accurate ranking order for the alternatives. The proposed technique is illustrated by two real life examples on material handling device (MHD) ranking and selection problems. The first example is initially solved using five conventional integrated fuzzy multi-criteria decision making techniques (FMCDMs) whereas the second example is taken from previous researchers’ works. The results obtained using TPOP justify the validity, applicability and requirements of the proposed technique. The study shows that the proposed multi-approaches, multi-criteria decision making technique can be a useful and effective model in MCDM.     

A fuzzy VIKOR method for supplier selection based on entropy measure for objective weighting

Recently, resolving the problem of evaluation and ranking the potential suppliers has become as a key strategic factor for business firms. With the development of intelligent and automated information systems in the information era, the need for more efficient decision making methods is growing. The VIKOR method was developed to solve multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) problems with conflicting and non-commensurable criteria assuming that compromising is acceptable to resolve conflicts. On the other side objective weights based on Shannon entropy concept could be used to regulate subjective weights assigned by decision makers or even taking into account the end-users’ opinions. In this paper, we treat supplier selection as a group multiple criteria decision making (GMCDM) problem and obtain decision makers’ opinions in the form of linguistic terms. Then, these linguistic terms are converted to trapezoidal fuzzy numbers. We extended the VIKOR method with a mechanism to extract and deploy objective weights based on Shannon entropy concept. The final result is obtained through next steps based on factors R, S and Q. A numerical example is proposed to illustrate an application of the proposed method.     

A hybrid multi-criteria decision-making model for personnel selection in manufacturing systems

This study described a hybrid model for supporting the personnel selection process in manufacturing systems. Personnel selection is a very important issue for an effective manufacturing system, since the improper personnel might cause many problems affecting productivity, precision, flexibility and quality of the products negatively. On the other hand, selecting the best personnel among many alternatives is a multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) problem. In this study, a hybrid model which employs analytic network process (ANP) and modified TOPSIS (Technique for Order Performance by Similarity to Idea Solution) together, is proposed for the personnel selection problem. The ANP is used to analyze the structure of the personnel selection problem and to determine weights of the criteria, and modified TOPSIS method is used to obtain final ranking. To illustrate how the approach is used for the personnel selection problem, an application of a real case in a company is conducted. The application has demonstrated the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed model. Company management found the application and results satisfactory and implementable in their personnel selection process.     

The use of improved TOPSIS method based on experimental design and Chebyshev regression in solving MCDM problems

Decision makers today are faced with a wide range of alternative options and a large set of conflicting criteria. How to make trade-off between these conflicting attributes and make a scientific decision is always a difficult task. Although a lot of multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) methods are available to deal with selection applications, it’s observed that in most of these methods the ranking results are very sensitive to the changes in the attribute weights. The calculation process is also ineffective when a new alternative is added or removed from the MCDM problem. This paper presents an improved TOPSIS method based on experimental design and Chebyshev orthogonal polynomial regression. A feature of this method is that it employs the experimental design technique to assign the attribute weights and uses Chebyshev regression to build a regression model. This model can help and guide a decision maker to make a reasonable judgment easily. The proposed methodology is particularized through an equipment selection problem in manufacturing environment. Two more illustrative examples are conducted to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed method. In all the cases, the results obtained using the proposed method almost corroborate with those derived by the earlier researchers which proves the validity, capability and potentiality of this method in solving real-life MCDM problems.     

A new fuzzy weighted average (FWA) method based on left and right scores: An application for determining a suitable location for a gas oil station

The selection of a facility location from alternative locations is a multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) problem including both quantitative and qualitative criteria. In many real-life cases, determining the exact values for MCDM problems, and especially for facility location selection problems, is difficult or impossible, so the values of alternatives with respect to the criteria or/and the values of criteria weights are considered as fuzzy values (fuzzy numbers) such that the conventional crisp approaches for solving facility location selection problems and other MCDM problems tend to be less effective for dealing with the imprecise or vagueness nature of the linguistic assessments. In such conditions, fuzzy MCDM methods are applied for facility location selection problem and other fuzzy MCDM problems. In this paper, we propose a new fuzzy weighted average (FWA) method based on left and right scores for fuzzy MCDM problems. Moreover, we apply the proposed method to a real application. As a result, we found that the proposed method is practical for facility location selection problems. Besides, it seems that the proposed FWA method is very accurate, flexible, simple, and easy to use when compared to other versions of the FWA method.     

An integrated logarithmic fuzzy preference programming based methodology for optimum maintenance strategies selection

Selecting optimum maintenance strategies plays a key role in saving cost, and improving the system reliability and availability. Analytic hierarchical process (AHP) is widely used for maintenance strategies selection in the Multiple Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) field. But the traditional or hybrid AHP methods either produce multiple, even conflict priority results, or have complicated algorithm structures which are unstable to obtain the optimum solution. Therefore, this paper proposes an integrated Logarithmic Fuzzy Preference Programming (LFPP) based methodology in AHP to solve the optimum maintenance strategies selection problem. The multiplicative constraints and deviation variables are applied instead of additive ones to utilize both qualitative and quantitative data, and process the upper and lower triangular fuzzy judgments to obtain the same priorities. The proposed methodology can produce the unique normalized optimal priority vector for fuzzy pairwise comparison matrices, and it is capable of processing all comparison matrices to obtain the global priorities simultaneously and directly in the form of super-matrix according to the different requirements and judgments of decision-makers. Finally, an example is provided to demonstrate the feasibility and validity of the proposed methodology.     

Fuzzy axiomatic design extension for managing model selection paradigm in decision science

The model selection paradigm is one of the focused themes within decision science. This paper addresses the consistent solution of model selection issue on the basis of the fuzzy axiomatic design (FAD) methodology. Moreover, the developed FAD–based model selection interface (FAD–MSI) is performed over the critical ship management processes in order to assign suitable (multiple criteria decision-making) MCDM techniques even if commonly utilized hybrid approaches. The outcomes of this study encourage the maritime practitioners for the further researches towards analytical modelling of ship management processes.     

Group decision making process for supplier selection with VIKOR under fuzzy environment

During recent years, how to determine suitable suppliers in the supply chain has become a key strategic consideration. However, the nature of supplier selection is a complex multi-criteria problem including both quantitative and qualitative factors which may be in conflict and may also be uncertain. The VIKOR method was developed to solve multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) problems with conflicting and non-commensurable (different units) criteria, assuming that compromising is acceptable for conflict resolution, the decision maker wants a solution that is the closest to the ideal, and the alternatives are evaluated according to all established criteria. In this paper, linguistic values are used to assess the ratings and weights for these factors. These linguistic ratings can be expressed in trapezoidal or triangular fuzzy numbers. Then, a hierarchy MCDM model based on fuzzy sets theory and VIKOR method is proposed to deal with the supplier selection problems in the supply chain system. A numerical example is proposed to illustrate an application of the proposed model.     

Extension of the ELECTRE method based on interval-valued fuzzy sets

Decision-making is the process of finding the best option among the feasible alternatives. In classical multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods, the ratings and the weights of the criteria are known precisely. However, if decision makers cannot reach an agreement on the method of defining linguistic variables based on the fuzzy sets, the interval-valued fuzzy set theory can provide a more accurate modeling. In this paper, the interval-valued fuzzy ELECTRE method is presented aiming at solving MCDM problems in which the weights of criteria are unequal, using interval-valued fuzzy set concepts. For the purpose of proving the validity of the proposed model, we present a numerical example and build a practical maintenance strategy selection problem.     

System-of-Systems Modeling and Simulation of a Ship Environment With Wireless and Intelligent Maintenance Technologies

Modeling and simulation environments are needed to support decision making in Navy Warfighters, which are emergent systems that pose a challenge to operations management. Ships consist of complex interconnected systems such as the infrastructure, crew, and workflow. A system-of-systems approach using agent-based modeling is applied here to develop workflow simulations involving a ship's crew conducting routine maintenance, watch duty, and reporting functions. Simple models are used to describe basic behavioral traits and intelligence in crew members; machinery including sensors for intelligent maintenance; equipment consuming power; mobile and stationary communication network access points; models for data transfer over the network; crew mobility models; power distribution and trimming models for the electrical system; and a fire model to simulate emergency scenarios. The simulation results demonstrate an increase in machine availability due to the implementation of intelligent maintenance systems. The effects of wireless-network usage on crew resource utilization and overall ship capability in normal operational scenarios are also demonstrated. A simple rescheduling algorithm is used to improve crew utilization and estimate manning requirements. The effects of emergency scenarios such as fires in different locations are also studied. Sensitivity analysis is presented to verify the developed model, and a note on validation is given.     

Selecting Occupational Safety Equipment by MCDM Approach Considering Universal Design Principles

Occupational safety concept, which has become a major subject in all industries, has a vital importance in preventing accidents and ensuring a safe working environment. This study proposes an integrated approach to evaluate occupational safety equipment by considering universal design (UD) and technical requirements, both separately and simultaneously. UD principles are concerned with making things usable for anyone, whatever their conditions may be, without any requirements for rearrangement. Two robust multicriteria decision making (MCDM) aid methods, AHP and fuzzy PROMETHEE, are employed to handle the evaluation process in the presented study. The study also includes a demonstration of the proposed approach on a real MCDM problem. The study findings indicate that the proposed approach is valid and accurate, and the inclusion of UD principles has a positive and comprehensive effect on the selection process.     

An integrated fuzzy TOPSIS and MCGP approach to supplier selection in supply chain management

Supplier selection is an important issue in supply chain management. In recent years, determining the best supplier in the supply chain has become a key strategic consideration. However, these decisions usually involve several objectives or criteria, and it is often necessary to compromise among possibly conflicting factors. Thus, the multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) becomes a useful approach to solve this kind of problem. Considering both tangible and intangible criteria, this study proposes integrated fuzzy techniques for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) and multi-choice goal programming (MCGP) approach to solve the supplier selection problem. The advantage of this method is that it allows decision makers to set multiple aspiration levels for supplier selection problems. The integrated model is illustrated by an example in a watch firm.     

Personnel selection based on computing with words and fuzzy MULTIMOORA

Personnel selection process is aimed at choosing the best candidate to fill the defined vacancy in a company. It determines the input quality of personnel and thus plays an important role in human resource management. Given the uncertain, ambiguous, and vague nature of personnel selection process, it requires the application of multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) methods for robust recruitment. This paper hence is aimed at extending the fuzzy MULTIMOORA for linguistic reasoning under group decision making. The fuzzy MULTIMOORA was further modified in this study. The fuzzy MULTIMOORA for group decision making (MULTIMOORA–FG) enables to aggregate subjective assessments of the decision-makers and thus offer an opportunity to perform more robust personnel selection procedures. A personnel selection problem illustrated the group decision-making procedure according to MULTIMOORA–FG: the enterprise has formed an executive committee consisting of four decision-makers to choose the best candidate from another four participants to fill the vacancy. The committee has decided to consider eight qualitative attributes expressed in linguistic variables. The numerical example exhibited possibilities for improvement of human resources management as well as any other business decision area by applying MULTIMOORA–FG.     

云数据中心操作系统副本分布算法的设计与实现

介绍云数据中心操作系统(云海OS)中的副本分布算法,该算法用于解决云存储环境下的副本分布问题,将存储节点的选择问题转化为一个多指标决策问题(MCDM),使用TOPSIS进行求解。算法能够充分利用云计算环境下的多种检测数据,结合灵活的权重分配方式,适应多数云存储环境。模拟实验表明,云海OS算法在负载均衡和副本创建时间方面优于传统的Least和Ran-dom算法。