Chie-Bein Chen

An efficient approach to solving fuzzy MADM problems

Abstract An approach using defuzzifying methods is proposed for the fuzzy multiple attribute decision-making (MADM) problem. The computational effectiveness and efficiency of six defuzzifying methods combined with the simple additive weighting (SAW) method are evaluated based on a comparison to the improved fuzzy weighted average (IFWA) followed by four fuzzy ranking methods. Numerical examples are discussed to demonstrate the implementation and effectiveness of the methods.

Hierarchical MADM with fuzzy integral for evaluating enterprise intranet web sites

In the real world, most criteria have inter-dependent or interactive characteristics so they cannot be evaluated by conventional additive measures. Thus, to approximate the human subjective evaluation process, it would be more suitable to apply a fuzzy integral model, in which it is not necessary to assume additivity and independence. This research proposes an effective algorithm to determine the λ-value using the input data of fuzzy densities and the fuzzy integral based on λ-fuzzy measure to determine the overall evaluation. This research also gives an example of evaluating enterprise intranet web sites with illustrations of the hierarchical structure of λ-fuzzy measure for a Choquet integral model. The results show that the fuzzy integral is more suitable than a traditional multicriteria evaluation method for human subjective evaluation, or when criteria are not mutually independent.

An ERP model for supplier selection in electronics industry

Asus Tech. is the largest motherboard manufacturer in Taiwan. Hundreds of suppliers cooperate with the company in business. So that supplier selection is the most important function of a purchasing department in the enterprise. An enterprise resource planning (ERP) system in the process of supplier selection may result in the great savings in both costs and man hours. In the concept of push and pull, an ERP system acts as an efficient tool in the resource integration and profit creation for a company. Through ERP, a decision manager can clearly realize the strength and weakness of the purchasing operation. To establish a real-time purchasing environment, a methodology of analytic network process (ANP), technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) and linear programming (LP) are effectively applied in the supplier selection process. ANP and TOPSIS are used to calculate the weight and give suppliers a ranking; LP effectively allocates order quantity to each vendor. As to the result, four PC board suppliers are given orders for 1200, 727, 1000 and 73 pieces.

Concurrent maximization of process tolerances using grey theory

Abstract A grey method for designing the manufacturing process tolerances is proposed in the present study. Unlike previous approaches, the standardized process tolerance is viewed as an interval grey number with upper and lower bounds, and the whitening of the grey number is equivalent to allocating the process tolerances. As a result, the grey linear programming model is used to concurrently maximize the process tolerances with respect to each operation by finding a maximum value of the weighting coefficient in whitening the grey number. A comparison of the results indicates that the grey method generates least scrap rate

Crystal of meso-p-tolyl-porphyrinato copper(II) Cu(tptp) and di-cation ion-pair complex [H4tptp]2+[CF3SO3]2− formation during the reaction of Cu(CF3SO3)2 with meso-p-tolyl-porphyrin in CDCl3

Abstract In the NMR and ESR time-scale of this experiment, an attempt was made to prepare the copper sitting-atop (SAT) species [Cu(H2tptp)]2+ by the reaction of Cu(CF3SO3)2 with meso-p-tolyl-porphyrin (H2tptp) in CDCl3; however, this led to the formation of meso-p-tolyl-porphyrinatocopper(II) Cu(tptp) and the protonated porphyrin [H4tptp]2+[CF3SO3]2− (2a). Previous researchers might have misinterpreted the SAT [Cu(H2tpp)]2+ complex as being a single component instead of a mixture of [H4tpp]2+[CF3SO3]2− (1) and Cu(tpp) for a similar reaction between 5,10,15,20-tetraphenylporphyrin H2tpp and Cu(CF3SO3)2 in CH3CN. This work determines the crystal structure of Cu(tptp) and its hyperfine constants aCu=94.0 G and aN=15.8 G using ESR. The crystal structure of [H4tptp]2+[CH3SO3]2− (3) is reported and employed to simulate the groupings of [H4tptp]2+ and CF3SO3− in the di-cation ion-pair complex 2a.

An automated system for product specification and design

This study proposes a design automation system that integrates traditional segmental design processes into a solid unified system composed of need assessment, computer aided design, computer aided engineering and rapid prototyping. The system utilizes the computer network in conjunction with the quality function deployment technique coupled with a well designed expert system to precisely transform customers’ needs into producible product specification. The product is then displayed using a three‐dimensional representation and simulated through numerical analysis using a finite element method. The resulting feasible design alternative is finally linked to the rapid prototyper to produce the sample object. The use of the system is believed to greatly reduce R&D cost and significantly shorten the product design cycle, while closely meeting the customer’s needs.

A Green Purchasing Model by Using ANP and LP Methods

Economic growth and development bring not only prosperity but also environmental degradation to the earth. In recent years, people have changed their views on traditional supply chain management (SCM). Green purchasing is a current trend in today’s business process management. Green purchasing is a purchasing behavior for buying goods that emphasizes environmental protection. Due to governments’ environmental regulations, such as WEEE and RoHS, directives have been formed and personal consciousness concerning the environment has been raised; therefore, green purchasing is strongly emphasized in SCM. In some high-tech industries, environmental consciousness may dominate the whole purchasing process, since vendors are asked to use environmentally-friendly materials. Customers thereby influence the component providers toward supplying environmentally-friendly products. For instance, in the PC board industry, the customers influence the suppliers’ product manufacturing process with the aim of reducing the negative environmental impact of the materials used by vendors. This study models a green purchasing system by applying the analytic network process (ANP) and linear programming (LP) methods. The ANP provides the solution for green supplier selection and LP resolves the problem of order allocation for each vendor.

Screening Synchronously Occurred Multiple Abnormal Quality Characteristics in a Silicon Wafer Slicing Process

Silicon wafer slicing manufacturing process exhibits several characteristics. They are: (1) the product type is small batch production, (2) saw cutting must be very precise, (3) the process run time is long, and (4) inspecting samples is difficult. Furthermore, the process involves several synchronously occurred multiple quality characteristics, such as thickness (THK), bow and warp, which must be closely monitored and controlled. Synchronously monitoring multiple quality characteristics is more expensive than monitoring a single quality characteristic in the manufacturing process. The sizes of inspected samples in the existing process are difficult to maintain the quality control chart. Grey situation decision method is used to screen the worst quality control chart. Grey situation decision method is used to screen the worst quality characteristic from the synchronously occurred multiple quality characteristics to monitor the process. Finally, a case study is presented to demonstrate the feasibility and ...

Focus groups: impact of quality and process capability factors on the silicon wafer slicing process

Silicon wafer slicing is a highly complex manufacturing process, complicating efforts to monitor individual product type process stability and quality control effectively. Specifically, silicon wafer slicing involves multiple quality characteristics that occur synchronously. However, quantitative methods, such as process capability indices (PCIs) and statistical process control (SPC) charts, for monitoring slicing problems are limited. Therefore, this study presents a focus group procedure that explores engineering knowledge and expertise. Organisations can use focus groups to create knowledge of stable processes, optimal settings and quality control. Interactive discussions indicate that focus groups can improve productivity and decision making effectiveness either by accelerating the decision making or by increasing decision quality. Moreover, the proposed procedure enables an engineer to rapidly adjust a manufacturing system to eliminate problems related to slicing process instability phenomena and improve slicing quality and process capability. Finally, the SPC chart and the exponential weighted moving average (EWMA) control chart are presented to demonstrate and verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed methods.

Model for measuring quality of software in DVRS using the gap concept and fuzzy schemes with GA

A model of software quality is proposed to measure the quality of the software in a digital video recorder system (DVRS) during its development stage. The characteristics and metrics of this model are adopted from ISO/IEC 9126 and 14598. The model incorporates a @l-fuzzy measure, a genetic algorithm and a hierarchical Choquet integral. It is based on the gap concept between perceive performance by the developers and satisfaction by the end-users, acquirers and evaluators of third parties in software development stage. A checklist about of the software quality is used to reduce the gap between the quality of the DVRS software quality as assessed by the developers and that as assessed by the end-users, acquirers and the evaluators of third parties.