Title: Advanced manufacturing systems selection using ORESTE method

Authors: Prasenjit Chatterjee; Shankar Chakraborty

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, MCKV Institute of Engineering, Howrah – 711 204, West Bengal, India ' Department of Production Engineering, Jadavpur University, Kolkata – 700 032, India

Abstract: Selection of advanced manufacturing systems (AMSs) is a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem, based on assessing a large number of conflicting quantitative and qualitative criteria. Decision making for AMS selection has become more complicated due to availability of a wide range of feasible alternatives. In this paper, an almost unexplored MCDM method, Organization, Rangement Et Synthese De Donnes Relationnelles (ORESTE) is applied to solve five AMS selection problems, e.g., a) an industrial robot; b) a flexible manufacturing system; c) a rapid prototyping process; d) the most suitable machine for a flexible manufacturing cell; e) a non-traditional machining process. This method does not require any precise information about criteria weights or formulation of any type of preference function. In all these cases, the rankings of the alternatives obtained using ORESTE method almost corroborate with those derived by the past researchers, proving the expediency of this method as an effective MCDM technique.

Keywords: multicriteria decision making; MCDM; ORESTE; advanced manufacturing systems; AMS selection; ranking alternatives; industrial robots; flexible manufacturing systems; FMS; rapid prototyping; flexible manufacturing cells; FMC; nontraditional machining.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAOM.2013.058896

International Journal of Advanced Operations Management, 2013 Vol.5 No.4, pp.337 - 361

Received: 10 Nov 2012
Accepted: 30 Apr 2013
Published online: 28 Apr 2014 *

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