A multi-criteria decision making model for outsourcing maintenance services

Facilities ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 33 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 229-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad A. Hassanain ◽  
Sadi Assaf ◽  
Abdul-Mohsen Al-Hammad ◽  
Ahmed Al-Nehmi
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Air Conditioning ◽  
Relative Weight ◽  
Equal Weight ◽  
Multi Criteria Decision Making ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Air Conditioning Systems ◽  
Decision Making Model ◽  
Outsourcing Decision

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the development of a multi-criteria decision-making model for use by maintenance managers to consider before making a decision on outsourcing. Design/methodology/approach – Thirty-eight factors were identified for outsourcing maintenance services. These factors were grouped under six categories, namely: “strategic”, “management”, “technological”, “quality”, “economic” and “function characteristics”. The Analytic Hierarchy Process, as a multi-criteria decision-making model, was introduced and applied as an approach for maintenance managers in Saudi Arabian universities to consider before making a decision on outsourcing. A case study on the outsourcing decision of maintenance services of air-conditioning systems was carried out to apply the developed model. Findings – Data analysis indicated that all outsourcing decision groups of factors have almost equal weight, with the “quality” group of factors having the highest weight and the “technological” group of factors having the least weight. Further, the analysis indicated, in general, that the recommended decision for the maintenance managers is to outsource. However, an application of the developed model through a case study on the outsourcing of maintenance services of air-conditioning systems showed that the recommended action is not to outsource. Originality/value – The presented approach in this paper could be of practical benefit to maintenance managers in their decision making of whether or not to outsource maintenance services. The factors in the model were identified through a literature survey of research carried out in different countries. Therefore, the model could be applied in different settings, depending on the relative weight of the factors by the users.

An integrated fuzzy-based multi-criteria decision-making approach for the selection of an effective manufacturing system

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 280-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ram Prakash ◽  
Sandeep Singhal ◽  
Ashish Agarwal
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Manufacturing Systems ◽  
Manufacturing System ◽  
Research Work ◽  
Sustainable Growth ◽  
Multi Criteria Decision Making ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Manufacturing Company ◽  
Selection Of

Purpose The research paper presents analysis and prioritization of barriers influencing the improvement in the effectiveness of manufacturing system. The purpose of this paper is to develop an integrated fuzzy-based multi-criteria decision-making (F-MCDM) framework to assist management of the case company in the selection of most effective manufacturing system. The framework helps in prioritizing the manufacturing systems on the basis of their effectiveness affected by the barriers. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, on the basis of experts’ opinion, five barriers have been identified in a brain-storming session. The problem of prioritization of manufacturing system is a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem and hence is solved by using the F-MCDM approach using dominance matrix. Findings Manufacturing systems’ effectiveness for Indian industries is influenced by barriers. The prioritization of manufacturing systems depends on qualitative factor decision-making criteria. Among the manufacturing systems, leagile manufacturing system is given the highest priority followed by lean manufacturing system, agile manufacturing system, flexible manufacturing system and cellular manufacturing system. Research limitations/implications The selection of an appropriate manufacturing system plays a vital role for sustainable growth of the manufacturing company. In the present work, barriers which influence the effectiveness of manufacturing system have been identified. On the basis of degree of influence of barriers on the effectiveness of the manufacturing system, five alternative manufacturing systems are prioritized. The framework will help the management of the case company to take reasonable decision for the adoption of the appropriate manufacturing system. Practical implications The results of the research work are very useful for the manufacturing companies interested in analyzing the alternative manufacturing systems on the basis of their effectiveness and their sensitivity toward various barriers. The management of Indian manufacturing company will take decision to adopt a manufacturing system whose effectiveness is least sensitive toward barriers. Effectiveness of such manufacturing system will improve with time without having retardation due to barriers. With improved effectiveness of the manufacturing system, the manufacturing company would be able to survive with global competition. The result of the present work is based on the inputs from the case company and may vary for the other manufacturing company. In the present work, only five alternative manufacturing systems and five barriers have been considered. To obtain the better result, MCDM approach with more number of alternative manufacturing systems and barriers might be considered. Originality/value The research work is based on the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process framework and on the case study conducted by the authors. The work carried out is original in nature and based on the real-life case study.

Proposing a new hybrid multi-criteria decision-making approach for road maintenance prioritization

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shakiba Sayadinia ◽  
Mohammad Ali Beheshtinia
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
New Combination ◽  
Multi Criteria Decision Making ◽  
Important Criterion ◽  
Road Maintenance ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Electre Iii ◽  
Limited Budget ◽  
Copeland Method

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present a hybrid multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method, by combining the AHP, ELECTRE II, ELECTRE III, ELECTRE IV and Copeland techniques for road maintenance prioritization, in which the roads are evaluated and ranked based on various criteria. The proposed method is applied to four streets in Tehran, as a case study.Design/methodology/approachFirst, a set of criteria for road maintenance was determined and their weights were obtained using the AHP method. Four streets in Tehran, Iran were considered as alternatives and prioritized using the ELECTRE II, ELECTRE III and ELECTRE IV methods. Finally, the results of employing the three methods were integrated using the Copeland method and a final result was obtained.FindingsThe findings of the study suggested that “road safety” is the most important criterion in maintenance and “traffic volume” and “pavement quality index (PCI)” have the second and third rank in importance. Moreover, “The width of the street” is the least important criterion in road maintenance. Additionally, the streets' final ranking was obtained using the proposed method.Research limitations/implicationsThe proposed method helps managers effectively assign their limited budget and resources to roads with higher maintenance priority and as the result, increase the roads efficiency.Originality/valueIn this research, eight main criteria were collected using previous researches and experts' opinions. Also, a new combination of different MCDM techniques is proposed in this research.

A hybrid multi-criteria decision-making model for optimal coal blending

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 339-359 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shankar Chakraborty ◽  
Ankan Mitra
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Optimization Problems ◽  
Research Work ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Emission ◽  
Preference Ranking ◽  
Multi Criteria Decision Making ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Geographical Regions ◽  
Coal Blending ◽  
Decision Making Model

Purpose The purpose of this paper is thus to develop a hybrid decision-making model for optimal coal blending strategy. Coal is one of the major resources contributing to generation of electricity and anthropogenic carbon-dioxide emission. Being formed from dead plant matter, it undergoes a series of morphological changes from peat to lignite, and finally to anthracite. Because of non-uniform distribution of coal over the whole earth and continuous variation in its compositions, coals mined from different parts of the world have widely varying properties. Hence, it requires an ideal blending strategy such that the coking coal having the optimal combination of all of its properties can be used for maximum benefit to the steel making process. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, a multi-criteria decision-making approach is proposed while integrating preference ranking organization method for enrichment of evaluations (PROMETHEE II and V) and geometrical analysis for interactive aid (GAIA) method to aid in formulating an optimal coal blending strategy. The optimal decision is arrived at while taking into account some practical implications associated with blending of coal, such as coal price from different reserves. Findings Different grades of coal are ranked from the best to the worst to find out the composition of constituent coals in the final blending process. Coals from the mines of two different geographical regions are considered here so as to prove the applicability of the proposed model. Adoption of this hybrid decision-making model would subsequently improve the performance of coal after blending and help in addressing some sustainability issues, like less pollution. Originality/value As this model takes into account the purchase price of coals from different reserves, it is always expected to provide more realistic solutions. Thus, it would be beneficial to deploy this decision-making model to different blending optimization problems in other spheres of a manufacturing industry. This model can further accommodate some more realistic criteria, such as availability of coal in different reserves as a topic of future research work.

scholarly journals Intermodal Terminal Handling Equipment Selection Using a Fuzzy Multi-criteria Decision-making Model

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mladen Dragan Krstić ◽  
Snežana Radoman Tadić ◽  
Nikolina Brnjac ◽  
Slobodan Zečević
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Basic Element ◽  
Energy Costs ◽  
Multi Criteria Decision Making ◽  
Intermodal Transport ◽  
Time Savings ◽  
Decision Making Model ◽  
The Given ◽  
Selection Of

Intermodal transport enables energy, costs and time savings, improves the service quality and supports sustainable development. The basic element of the intermodal transport system is an intermodal terminal, whose efficiency largely depends on the subsystems’ technologies. Accordingly, the topic of this paper is the evaluation and the selection of the appropriate handling equipment within the intermodal terminal. As the decision-making on the handling equipment is influenced by different economic, technical, technological and other criteria, the appropriate multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods have to be applied in order to solve the problem. In this paper, a novel hybrid model which combines the fuzzy step-wise weight assessment ratio analysis (FSWARA) and the fuzzy best-worst method (FBWM) is developed. The defined model is applied for solving the case study of selecting adequate handling equipment for the planned intermodal terminal in Belgrade. The reach stacker is selected as the most adequate handling equipment since it suits best the characteristics of the planned terminal in the given conditions and in relation to the defined criteria. Solving the case study demonstrated the justification for using the MCDM methods to solve these kinds of problems as well as the applicability of the proposed MCDM model.

scholarly journals Introducing a multi-criteria evaluation method using Pythagorean fuzzy sets

Kybernetes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vahid Mohagheghi ◽  
Seyed Meysam Mousavi ◽  
Mohammad Mojtahedi ◽  
Sidney Newton
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Fuzzy Sets ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Project Selection ◽  
Scale Construction ◽  
Multi Criteria Decision Making ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Pythagorean Fuzzy Sets ◽  
Multi Criteria Evaluation

Purpose Project selection is a critical decision for any organization seeking to commission a large-scale construction project. Project selection is a complex multi-criteria decision-making problem with significant uncertainty and high risks. Fuzzy set theory has been used to address various aspects of project uncertainty, but with key practical limitations. This study aims to develop and apply a novel Pythagorean fuzzy sets (PFSs) approach that overcomes these key limitations. Design/methodology/approach The study is particular to complex project selection in the context of increasing interest in resilience as a key project selection criterion. Project resilience is proposed and considered in the specific situation of a large-scale construction project selection case study. The case study develops and applies a PFS approach to manage project uncertainty. The case study is presented to demonstrate how PFS is applied to a practical problem of realistic complexity. Working through the case study highlights some of the key benefits of the PFS approach for practicing project managers and decision-makers in general. Findings The PFSs approach proposed in this study is shown to be scalable, efficient, generalizable and practical. The results confirm that the inclusion of last aggregation and last defuzzification avoids the potentially critical information loss and relative lack of transparency. Most especially, the developed PFS is able to accommodate and manage domain expert expressions of uncertainty that are realistic and practical. Originality/value The main novelty of this study is to address project resilience in the form of multi-criteria evaluation and decision-making under PFS uncertainty. The approach is defined mathematically and presented as a six-step approach to decision-making. The PFS approach is given to allow multiple domain experts to focus more clearly on accurate expressions of their agreement and disagreement. PFS is shown to be an important new direction in practical multi-criteria decision-making methods for the project management practitioner.

Multi-criteria decision-making model for wastewater reuse application: a case study from Iran

2015 ◽  
Vol 57 (30) ◽  
pp. 13857-13864 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abouzar Hadipour ◽  
Taher Rajaee ◽  
Vahid Hadipour ◽  
Sara Seidirad
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Wastewater Reuse ◽  
Multi Criteria Decision Making ◽  
Decision Making Model

“8A” framework for value stream selection – an empirical case study

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 1001-1026 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gopalakrishnan Narayanamurthy ◽  
Anand Gurumurthy ◽  
Roger Moser
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Multi Criteria Decision Making ◽  
Case Study Methodology ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Value Stream ◽  
A Value ◽  
Educational Institute ◽  
Case Organization

Purpose Before initiating the implementation of change for transforming and improving an organization through lean thinking (LT), it has to first select a right value stream. Several implementation studies have been documented in literature, but not many studies have addressed this issue of value stream selection. The purpose of this paper is to propose and empirically validate a framework for selecting a value stream to implement LT. Design/methodology/approach 8A framework is proposed by reviewing the literature on LT implementation case studies. Single case study methodology has been adopted to validate the application of 8A framework for selecting a value stream in an Indian educational institute. Since multiple qualifiers are considered simultaneously, a multi-criteria decision-making approach has been employed for choosing the value stream. Findings Utility of the proposed 8A framework for value stream selection was confirmed through its successful application in an educational institute. Out of three alternatives in the case organization, the teaching alternative was chosen for further LT implementation based on the application of 8A framework. Qualitative cross-validation and sensitivity analysis also confirmed the robustness of the value stream selection made using the 8A framework. Research limitations/implications Framework proposed in this study comprehensively captures the important qualifiers that were overlooked by the widely adopted first tenet of LT. Future research can attempt to generalize the applicability of 8A framework in different contexts including manufacturing, healthcare, software development, etc. A further study can be carried out in two similar case organizations or in two value streams of the same case organization (say in two different plants) to compare the differences in the outcome of lean implementation when one chooses its value stream for LT implementation without the application of the proposed framework, while another chooses it by applying the 8A framework. Practical implications Through structured evaluation of the comprehensive set of qualifiers in 8A framework using a multi-criteria decision making model, an informed decision can be taken by the practitioners in selecting a value stream from the available alternatives before proceeding with the implementation of LT. Originality/value After questioning the existing procedure of value stream selection for LT implementation, this study is the first to propose and validate an 8A framework that overcomes the limitations of the existing procedure. Study is also unique in the choice of the case organization as not many research papers have documented implementation of LT from the context of educational institutes.

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