Detection of level of satisfaction and fuzziness patterns for MCDM model with modified flexible S-curve MF

The present research work deals with a logistic membership function (MF), within non-linear MFs, in finding out fuzziness patterns in disparate level of satisfaction for Multiple Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) problem. This MF is a modified form of general set of S-curve MF. Flexibility of this MF in applying to real world problem has also been validated through a detailed analysis. An example illustrating an MCDM model applied in an industrial engineering problem has been considered to demonstrate the veracity of the proposed technique. The approach presented here provides feedback to the decision maker, implementer and analyst and gives a clear indication about the appropriate application and usefulness of the MCDM model. The key objective of this paper is to guide decision makers in finding out the best candidate-alternative with higher degree of satisfaction with lesser degree of vagueness under tripartite fuzzy environment.     

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.     

Fuzzy optimization of units products in mix-product selection problem using fuzzy linear programming approach

In this paper, the modified S-curve membership function methodology is used in a real life industrial problem of mix product selection. This problem occurs in the production planning management where by a decision maker plays important role in making decision in an uncertain environment. As analysts, we try to find a good enough solution for the decision maker to make a final decision. An industrial application of fuzzy linear programming (FLP) through the S-curve membership function has been investigated using a set of real life data collected from a Chocolate Manufacturing Company. The problem of fuzzy product mix selection has been defined. The objective of this paper is to find an optimal units of products with higher level of satisfaction with vagueness as a key factor. Since there are several decisions that were to be taken, a table for optimal units of products respect to vagueness and degree of satisfaction has been defined to identify the solution with higher level of units of products and with a higher degree of satisfaction. The fuzzy outcome shows that higher units of products need not lead to higher degree of satisfaction. The findings of this work indicates that the optimal decision is depend on vagueness factor in the fuzzy system of mix product selection problem. Further more the high level of units of products obtained when the vagueness is low.     

Proposing a graph ranking method for manufacturing system selection in high-tech industries

All manufacturing centers are looking for the solutions to reduce costs and increase their competitive advantages. One of the practical solutions for cost reduction is to select a suitable manufacturing system in order to optimize usage of limited resources. In high-tech industries, the manufacturing system selection is extremely difficult because of the complex features and structures of their products. Generally, selecting the best manufacturing system of high-tech products is a multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem. Graph ranking method is one of the most used techniques among MCDM methods, which is originated from combinatorial mathematics. Simple computational procedure, ability to consider relationships between criteria, etc., are some perfect characteristics of this method for modeling and solving decision-making problems with complexity. Therefore, this study attempted to determine the most suitable manufacturing system in high-tech industries using graph ranking method. Moreover, because of vagueness and imprecision in human judgments, fuzzy set theory is utilized in the evaluation procedure. The suggested approach was used to select the most appropriate system for LCD manufacturing at Sanam Electronic Company. Finally, Obtained results indicated the efficiency of the proposed approach and selection of a cloud-based manufacturing system as the most suitable manufacturing system in high-tech industries.

     

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.     

Pythagorean fuzzy multiple criteria decision analysis based on Shapley fuzzy measures and partitioned normalized weighted Bonferroni mean operator

Pythagorean fuzzy sets are powerful techniques for modeling vagueness in practice. The aim of this article is to investigate an effective means to aggregate uncertain information and then employ it into settling multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) problems within the Pythagorean fuzzy circumstances. To capture the nature of the reality, some special cases should be comprehensively considered. First, though correlation commonly exist among criteria, a deep insight should also be provided into some realistic situations, in which not all the criteria are interrelated to others. Besides, it is more reasonable to take the importance of the input arguments into consideration. Effected by aforementioned point, this article explores a Pythagorean fuzzy partitioned normalized weighted Bonferroni mean (PFPNWBM) operator with the combination of partitioned Bonferroni mean (BM) and normalized weighted BM operators considering Shapley fuzzy measure. Subsequently, in the context of partially known weight information, models are established to identify the optimal Shapley fuzzy measure. Moreover, integrated the PFPNWBM operator with the optimal Shapley fuzzy measure identification model, a Pythagorean fuzzy MCDM approach is designed. Finally, an illustrative example and detailed analyses are performed to demonstrate its feasibility and reliability.     

Combining VIKOR with GRA techniques to evaluate service quality of airports under fuzzy environment

The aim of this paper was to present an effective approach for evaluating service quality of Northeast-Asian international airports by conducting customer surveys. In general, evaluation of service quality is a complex multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) problem; therefore, a complex decision process is often involved in which multiple requirements and fuzzy conditions have to be taken into consideration simultaneously. By combining concepts of VIKOR and grey relational analysis (GRA), a new fuzzy MCDM method was proposed to deal with the evaluation of service quality problems in the international airports. This model was solved by an effective algorithm, which incorporated the decision-maker’s attitude and/or preference for customers’ assessments on weights and performance ratings of each criterion. An empirical study for evaluating service quality of seven major Northeast-Asian international airports was put forth to illustrate an application of the proposed model. The study results showed that this approach is an effective means for tackling MCDM problems involving subjective assessments of qualitative attributes in a fuzzy environment.     

An integrated fuzzy multi criteria group decision making approach for ERP system selection

This paper aims to ease group decision-making by using an integration of fuzzy AHP (analytic hierarchy process) and fuzzy TOPSIS (technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution) and its application to software selection of an electronic firm. Firstly, priority values of criteria in software selection problem have been determined by using fuzzy extension of AHP method. Fuzzy extension of AHP is suggested in this paper because of little computation time and much simpler than other fuzzy AHP procedures. Then, the result of the fuzzy TOPSIS model can be employed to define the most appropriate alternative with regard to this firm's goals in uncertain environment. Fuzzy numbers are presented in all phases in order to overcome any vagueness in decision making process. The final decision depends on the degree of importance of each decision maker so that wrong degree of importance causes the mistaken result. The researchers generally determine the degrees of importance of each decision maker according to special characteristics of each decision maker as subjectivity. In order to overcome this subjectivity in this paper, the judgments of decision makers are degraded to unique decision by using an attribute based aggregation technique. There is no study about software selection using integrated fuzzy AHP-fuzzy TOPSIS approach with group decision-making based on an attribute based aggregation technique. The results of the proposed approach and the other approaches are compared. Results indicate that our methodology allows decreasing the uncertainty and the information loss in group decision making and thus, ensures a robust solution to the firm.     

A Fuzzy AHP Approach to Evaluating Machine Tool Alternatives

Selecting process of a machine tool has been very important issue for companies for years, because the improper selection of a machine tool might cause of many problems affecting negatively on productivity, precision, flexibility and company’s responsive manufacturing capabilities. On the other hand, selecting the best machine tool from its increasing number of existing alternatives in market are multiple-criteria decision making (MCDM) problem in the presence of many quantitative and qualitative attributes. Therefore, in this paper, an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is used for machine tool selection problem due to the fact that it has been widely used in evaluating various kinds of MCDM problems in both academic researches and practices. However, due to the vagueness and uncertainty on judgments of the decision-maker(s), the crisp pair wise comparison in the conventional AHP seems to insufficient and imprecise to capture the right judgments of decision-maker(s). That is why; fuzzy number logic is introduced in the pair wise comparison of AHP to make up for this deficiency in the conventional AHP. Shortly, in this study, an intelligent approach is proposed, where both techniques; fuzzy logic and AHP are come together, referred to as fuzzy AHP. First, the fuzzy AHP technique is used to weight the alternatives under multiple attributes; second Benefit/Cost (B/C) ratio analysis is carried out by using both the fuzzy AHP score and procurement cost, of each alternative. The alternative with highest B/C ratio is found out and called as the ultimate machine tool among others. In addition, a case study is also presented to make this approach more understandable for a decision-maker(s).     

Proposing a new integrated model based on sustainability balanced scorecard (SBSC) and MCDM approaches by using linguistic variables for the performance evaluation of oil producing companies

Using the balanced scorecard approach based on sustainable development parameters is a powerful and useful methodology to evaluate the sustainable performance of organization or company. In this paper, a new approach based on sustainability balanced scorecard (SBSC) and multi criteria decision making (MCDM) approaches is developed for evaluating the performance of oil producing companies in Iran. For reflecting the interdependent relationships among factors influencing the problem under consideration, analytical network process (ANP), a branch of the MCDM techniques, is employed. However, using the ANP method for calculating the preference ratings of alternatives is a time-consuming and bothersome process; therefore, COPRAS (COmplex PRoportional ASsessment) technique is adopted to prioritize the feasible alternatives in terms of linguistic variables. Based on this study, the results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model. The performance evaluation model proposed by using a combination of the MCDM methods and the SBSC approach helps authorities to make an attempt for achieving a competitive advantage.     

Pythagorean fuzzy TODIM approach to multi-criteria decision making

Recently, the TODIM (an acronym in Portuguese for Interactive Multi-criteria Decision Making) approach, which can characterize the decision makers’ psychological behaviours under risk, has been introduced to handle multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) problems. Moreover, Pythagorean fuzzy set is an effective tool for depicting uncertainty of the MCDM problems. In this paper, based on the prospect theory, we first extend the TODIM approach to solve the MCDM problems with Pythagorean fuzzy information. Then, we conduct simulation tests to analyze how the risk attitudes of the decision makers exert the influence on the results of MCDM under uncertainty. Finally, a case study on selecting the governor of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is made to show the applicability of the proposed approach.     

模糊多属性决策的相似接近度解法

首先对模糊集合的3种接近度测度,即海明距离、模糊贴近度和灰色关联度进行讨论,在此基础上提出了相似接近度的概念,运用模糊满意度的概念建立了模糊多属性决策的数学模型,其次将相似接近度的概念应用于该模型,提出了该模型的一个新的解法;最后通过数值算例表明,该方法不但十分有效,而且物理意义和数学意义明确,模糊贴近度、灰色关联度和相对接近度解法都是该方法的特例．     

Flexible decision modeling of reverse logistics system: A value adding MCDM approach for alternative selection

The most favorable reverse manufacturing alternative arriving to collection centers has always been a key strategic consideration of any product recovery system. The nature of these decisions usually is considered to be multidimensional, interdisciplinary, complex, and unstructured due to lack of certainty in environment and information regarding time, quantity and quality of returns, etc. Fuzzy decision methodology provides an alternative framework to handle these reverse logistics system (RLS) complexities and to determine the decision strategies for best alternative selection for reprocessing. Designing a decision-making model for the same requires quantitative and qualitative evaluation based on criteria such as cost/time, legislative factors, environmental impact, quality, market, etc. Performance must be considered on the basis of these criteria to determine a suitable reverse manufacturing option depending on the expert opinion in this domain. In this paper, we propose a multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM) model based on fuzzy-set theory. The proposed model can help in designing effective and efficient flexible return policy depending on the various criteria. Further, companies can use this analysis as a strategic decision-making tool to develop fresh reprocessing facilities or efficiently use the already exiting facility. Finally, an example has been illustrated to highlight the procedural implementation of the proposed model. Further, this paper also makes an attempt to bring fuzzy-based flexible MCDM and reverse logistics together as a well-suited group decision support tool for alternative selections.     

TOPSIS with fuzzy belief structure for group belief multiple criteria decision making

TOPSIS is one of the major techniques in dealing with multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) problems, and Belief Structure (BS) model and Fuzzy BS model have been used successfully for uncertain MCDM with incompleteness, impreciseness or ignorance. In this paper, the TOPSIS method with Fuzzy BS model is proposed to solve Group Belief MCDM problems. Firstly, the Group Belief MCDM problem is structured as a fuzzy belief decision matrix in which the judgments of each decision maker are described as Fuzzy BS models, and then the Evidential Reasoning approach is used for aggregating the multiple decision makers’ judgments. Subsequently, the positive and negative ideal belief solutions are defined with the principle of TOPSIS. In order to measure the separation from the ideal belief solutions, the concept and algorithm of Belief Distance Measure are introduced to compare the difference between Fuzzy BS models. Using the Belief Distance Measure, the relative closeness and ranking index can be calculated for ranking the alternatives. A numerical example is finally given to illustrate the proposed method.     

TOPSIS with belief structure for group belief multiple criteria decision making

The technique for order performance by similarity to ideal solution(TOPSIS)is one of the major techniques in dealing with multiple criteria decision making(MCDM)problems, and the belief structure(BS)model has been used successfully for uncertain MCDM with incompleteness, impreciseness or ignorance. In this paper, the TOPSIS method with BS model is proposed to solve group belief MCDM problems. Firstly, the group belief MCDM problem is structured as a belief decision matrix in which the judgments of each decision maker are described as BS models, and then the evidential reasoning approach is used for aggregating the multiple decision makers' judgments. Subsequently, the positive and negative ideal belief solutions are defined with the principle of TOPSIS. To measure the separation from ideal solutions, the concept and algorithm of belief distance measure are defined, which can be used for comparing the difference between BS models. Finally, the relative closeness and ranking index are calculated for ranking the alternatives. A numerical example is given to illustrate the proposed method.     

Finding the numerical compensation in multiple criteria decision-making problems under fuzzy environment

In this paper, we have developed a methodology to derive the level of compensation numerically in multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM) problems under fuzzy environment. The degree of compensation is dependent on the tranquility and anxiety level experienced by the decision-maker while taking the decision. Higher tranquility leads to the higher realisation of the compensation whereas the increased level of anxiety reduces the amount of compensation in the decision process. This work determines the level of tranquility (or anxiety) using the concept of fuzzy sets and its various level sets. The concepts of indexing of fuzzy numbers, the risk barriers and the tranquility level of the decision-maker are used to derive his/her risk prone or risk averse attitude of decision-maker in each criterion. The aggregation of the risk levels in each criterion gives us the amount of compensation in the entire MCDM problem. Inclusion of the compensation leads us to model the MCDM problem as binary integer programming problem (BIP). The solution to BIP gives us the compensatory decision to MCDM. The proposed methodology is illustrated through a numerical example.     

Data transformation in the evidential reasoning-based decision making process

This paper describes the application of an evidential reasoning (ER)‐based decision making process to multiple‐criteria decision making (MCDM) problems having both quantitative and qualitative criteria. The ER approach is based on the decision theory and the theory of evidence and it uses the concept of ‘degree of belief’ to assess decision alternatives on each attribute. When faced with MCDM problems, evaluation and selection or ranking of alternatives appear to be both challenging and vital to arrive at a rational and robust decision. In the presence of both qualitative and quantitative evaluations in an MCDM problem, it is necessary, when using the ER‐based decision making process, to transform or convert quantitative data into a belief structure using a number of grades so that the converted belief structure and the original quantitative data are equivalent in values or utilities. This paper suggests three scenarios for data transformation and examines how the ranking of decision alternatives is changed when different scenarios of data transformation are used. Ranking of UK universities using the ER approach is illustrated as an example.     

An integrated MCDM method for robot selection under interval-valued Pythagorean uncertain linguistic environment

Robots have received considerable attention in many manufacturing companies due to their great capabilities and characteristics. Selecting an appropriate robot for a specific application can be regarded as a challenging multicriteria decision-making problem. Furthermore, decision makers are inclined to represent their opinions by using linguistic terms owing to their ambiguous thinking. In this regard, we put forward a novel robot selection model by integrating quality function development (QFD) theory and qualitative flexible multiple criteria method (QUALIFLEX) under interval-valued Pythagorean uncertain linguistic context. For the developed model, the evaluations given by decision makers are presented as interval-valued Pythagorean uncertain linguistic sets for dealing with the uncertainty and vagueness of decision makers’ information. An extended QFD method is used for determining criteria weights from the perspective of customers. A modified QUALIFLEX technique based on closeness degree is utilized to generate the ranking order of alternative robots and determine the most suitable one. Finally, an empirical example of an auto manufacturing company is applied to clarify the effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed robot selection approach.     

Fuzzy decision making of profit function in production planning using S-curve membership function

Any modern industrial manufacturing unit inevitably faces problems of vagueness in various aspects such as raw material availability, human resource availability, processing capability and constraints and limitations imposed by marketing department. Such a complex problem of vagueness and uncertainty can be handled by the theory of fuzzy linear programming. In this paper, a new fuzzy linear programming based methodology using a modified S-curve membership function is used to solve fuzzy mix product selection problem in Industrial Engineering. Profits and satisfactory level have been computed using fuzzy programming approach. Since there are several decisions to be taken, a performance measure has been defined to identify the decision for high level of profit with high degree of satisfaction.     

一种R＆D项目选择的人工智能方法

针对目前Ｒ＆Ｄ项目选择方法中存在的种种不足，提出了一种人工智能方法。该方法分为两部分：第一部分采用信息树方法来帮助决策者提高对Ｒ＆Ｄ项目选择过程的认识，说明了Ｒ＆Ｄ项目选择信息树模型实际上是一个认知图模型；第二部分采用前馈式神经网络的方法来进行Ｒ＆Ｄ项目选择中的多准则决策。