Rosnah Mohd Yusuff

A preliminary study on the potential use of the analytical hierarchical process (AHP) to predict advanced manufacturing technology (AMT) implementation

Abstract The implementation of advanced manufacturing technology (AMT) requires not only substantial investment in the technology, but also changes in the culture and organizational structure of the organization. It requires careful planning at all levels of the organization to ensure that the implementation will achieve the intended goals. It is a complex process with many factors to be considered before the full benefits of AMT can be realized. A preliminary study on the potential use of the analytical hierarchical process (AHP) has been proposed to help the organizations in planning the AMT implementation process. The AHP method has the ability to structure complex, multi-person, multi-attribute, and multi-period problem hierarchically. Pairwise comparisons of the element (usually, alternatives and attributes) can be established using a scale indicating the strength with which one element dominates another with respect to a higher-level element. This scaling process can then be translated into priority weights (scores). The AMT implementation process has been divided into stages or modules, and each module is independent of the other. Four main modules have been identified—the institutionalization, acceptance, routinization and infusion modules. The factors/elements in each module were identified from the literature and the relative importance for each element established by priority weights. Once the priority weights of the elements/determinants of the module have been calculated, the presence of the corresponding element in the companies will be evaluated. An evaluation rating of these elements multiplied by the established priority weights will determine the prediction weight for the elements and the module. The application of this procedure is described for the institutionalization module, and can be similarly extended to the other AMT implementation modules. By establishing the prediction weight for each module, the companies will be able to evaluate the strength of the corresponding factors present before embarking on the AMT, identify and create awareness of the essential elements in the AMT implementation process and identify the actions necessary before implementing AMT. The AHP can be a useful guide in the decision making process of AMT implementation, especially for small and medium scale industries.

Manufacturing best practices of the electric and electronic firms in Malaysia

A study was conducted to evaluate the manufacturing practices in the electronic and electrical firms of Malaysia based on the criteria identified from literature on a broad‐based manufacturing practice known as world‐class. Based on the replies to a structured questionnaire developed for this study, the current manufacturing practices indicate the status of these firms in their journey towards world‐class manufacturing practices. The result of this study showed that the implementation of “world class” or “best practices” among the respondents is satisfactory especially in the areas of management commitment, internal and external customer service policies and plans, and supplier relationship and development programs. There are some areas of improvement, such as cost of quality, supplier quality, increase operational flexibility and the use of group technology and flexible layout that should be taken into consideration.

An optimal grey based approach based on TOPSIS concepts for supplier selection problem

Abstract Supplier selection is a multi-attribute decision making (MADM) problem that is affected by quantitative and qualitative factors, some of which may conflict with each other. Since most of the input information is not known accurately, selecting the right suppliers becomes more difficult. Grey theory is one of the new mathematical methods used to analyze systems with uncertain and incomplete information. In this article, we firstly described two previous grey based methods and then, we proposed a new method based on TOPSIS concepts in grey theory to deal with the problem of selecting suppliers. The new method calculates the weighted connection between each of the alternatives sequence and the positive and negative referential sequence to compare the ranking of grey numbers and select the most desirable supplier. Through this article, it is demonstrated that the new method is a good means of evaluation, and it is also more optimal than the two methods.

An integration of a hybrid modified TOPSIS with a PGP model for the supplier selection with interdependent criteria

This paper deals with the supplier selection process when the criteria of selection are not independent. The primary aim is to illustrate that ignoring the interdependencies among these criteria leads to an unrealistic decision. Since supplier selection is a multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM) process, the general structures of the relative methods are outlined in this paper. The proposed methodology then presents a comprehensive approach to find the best ranking among the alternative suppliers of a typical product. A hybrid modified TOPSIS is integrated with a preemptive goal programming model in this study and then compared to an analytical hierarchy process (AHP) to show the effect of considering interdependencies in the supplier selection process. The results indicate that the proposed methodology provides a higher total value of purchasing (TVP) than AHP while the total cost of purchasing (TCP) of both methods are equal. Empirical proof is offered based on a case study.

A Mathematical Model for the Industrial Hazardous Waste Location-Routing Problem

Technology progress is a cause of industrial hazardous wastes increasing in the whole world . Management of hazardous waste is a significant issue due to the imposed risk on environment and human life. This risk can be a result of location of undesirable facilities and also routing hazardous waste. In this paper a biobjective mixed integer programing model for location-routing industrial hazardous waste with two objectives is developed. First objective is total cost minimization including transportation cost, operation cost, initial investment cost, and cost saving from selling recycled waste. Second objective is minimization of transportation risk. Risk of population exposure within bandwidth along route is used to measure transportation risk. This model can help decision makers to locate treatment, recycling, and disposal centers simultaneously and also to route waste between these facilities considering risk and cost criteria. The results of the solved problem prove conflict between two objectives. Hence, it is possible to decrease the cost value by marginally increasing the transportation risk value and vice versa. A weighted sum method is utilized to combine two objectives function into one objective function. To solve the problem GAMS software with CPLEX solver is used. The problem is applied in Markazi province in Iran.

Manufacturing best practices in Malaysian small and medium enterprises (SMEs)

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the current level of best manufacturing practices in Malaysian ISO 9000 certified small and medium enterprises (SMEs).Design/methodology/approach – The authors conducted a survey on 270 ISO 9000 certified manufacturing SMEs. Based on an extensive search of literature on performance requirements, eight areas were identified. Thus, the questionnaire was designed consisting of the eight areas which are management, human resources development (HRD), technology and product innovation, marketing strategy, quality, production process, supply chain management (SCM) and customer focus. Data were analysed using the SPSS software.Findings – The results showed that among the eight areas, customer focus is the most implemented area with the highest mean of 4.16, followed by quality (3.92), management (3.78), SCM (3.56), HRD (3.27), marketing strategy (3.05), production process (3.02) and technology and product innovation with a score of 2.95. The results showed tha...

Application of AHP and ANP in supplier selection process-a case in an automotive company

Abstract Most organizations prefer to outsource the activities which are not cost-efficient. With regard to the huge amount of expenditure in this area, proper selection of the desirable suppliers becomes significant. Previous studies indicated that the criteria of supplier selection might not be always independent, and this fact implies the existence of interdependencies among them that may affect the supplier selection. This study presents and compares two multi-attribute decision making (MADM) techniques to deal with the supplier selection problem with and without interdependency. An Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), and its extension, Analytic Network Process (ANP) are applied to find the final priorities of the suppliers respectively for the cases of independency and interdependency in an automotive manufacturing company. The two techniques lead to different rankings for the potential suppliers. Thus, a Preemptive Goal Programming (PGP) with two goals, maximizing the Total Value of Purchasing and minimizing the Total Cost of Purchasing, to decide which method is the best was conducted. The whole process is illustrated in a case study. The results from the company of the case study showed that the ANP had the optimal TCP of 1,290 US dollars, while the value for AHP was 1,710 USD. However, comparing the TVP value for the two methods shows a negligible difference.

Best Project Selection by Using of Group TOPSIS Method

Selecting projects is an important problem, yet often difficult task. It is complicated because there is usually more than one dimension for measuring the impact of each project and especially when there is more than one decision maker. This paper considers a real application of project selection for Telecommunication projects with using the opinion of experts by one of the group decision making model, it is called TOPSIS method. Four kinds of criteria include qualitative, quantitative, negative and positive criteria have been considered for selecting the best one amongst five projects and ranking them. We have also used from three experts opinion in Cable Network. Finally the introduced method is used in a case study (Telecommunication sector) and extracted results from it are analyzed from different points of view.

Minimising earliness and tardiness penalties in single machine scheduling against common due date using imperialist competitive algorithm

In this paper a novel evolutionary-based approach is utilised for efficiently solving the NP-hard problem of scheduling numerous common-due-date jobs on a single machine. Minimising the sum of earliness and tardiness penalties for all jobs is considered as the target function. The performance of the proposed approach is examined through a computational comparative study with 280 benchmark problems with up to 1000 jobs where the numerical results indicate that it can produce ‘better’ solutions in less computational time when compared to benchmark results and the methods available in the literature, namely genetic algorithm (GA), Tabu search (TS) and differential evolution (DE).

Measuring process capability index Cpmk with fuzzy data and compare it with other fuzzy process capability indices

The index Cpmk is a well-known loss-based process capability index. It can reveal more information about the location of the process mean compared with other classic process capability indices. This index is also more sensitive than other capability indices to any deviations from process mean. When there are some uncertainties in observations, fuzzy logic can be employed to manage these uncertainties. There is some research on different fuzzy process capability indices and this paper is an extension of Tsai and Chen (2006), Chen, Lin, and Chen (2003) for the process capability index Cpmk of fuzzy numbers. In order to find the membership function of process capability index Cpmk, the α-cuts of the fuzzy observation were employed. An example of fuzzy process capability Cpmk calculator was illustrated and compared with other classic fuzzy process capability indices C ~ p , C ~ pl , C ~ pu , C ~ pk and C ~ pm . Results showed that fuzzy C ~ pmk has the advantages of both C ~ pk and C ~ pm . Since the index Cpmk is a more sensitive index compared with other classic indices, the fuzzy process capability index C ~ pmk can be a more sensitive fuzzy index compared with C ~ p , C ~ pl , C ~ pu , C ~ pk and C ~ pm .