central modules of the ahp decision making

#CENTRAL MODULES OF THE AHP DECISION MAKING SOFTWARE#

Should the cheapest material or the lightest material be chosen? If Materials A and B are compared, it cannot be determined that either is superior without knowing the relative importance of weight versus price. Suppose you need to choose a material for an economic lightweight design from the hypothetical materials shown in Table 4.3. Unlike the exact sciences, where there is usually only one single correct solution to a problem, materials selection and substitution decisions require the simultaneous consideration of conflicting advantages and limitations, necessitating compromises and trade-offs as a consequence, different satisfactory solutions are possible ( Farag, 2002). Therefore, many well accepted methods in engineering design clearly produce questionable results ( Hazelrigg, 2003).

The use of leading edge technology is involved, such as aerospace, electronics, nuclear, and biomedical applications, where product differentiation and competitive advantage are often achievable with just small gains in material performance.ĭue to considerable disagreement among members of the engineering design community as to the extent that engineering design involves decision-making and to which classical decision theory applies to engineering, design engineers have not adopted the formalisms of decision theory, despite its long history and wide acceptance in other communities.

The materials and/or application are new. The use of MCDM is particularly important when: MCDM provides a foundation for selecting, sorting, and prioritizing materials and help in the overall assessment. MCDM address the need for a numerate structure ( Charles et al., 1997) in the materials selection process. This may or may not result in an optimum design solution but the adoption of MCDM methods will help to avoid the use of inappropriate materials and make sure costs are kept to a minimum. Traditionally, choosing a new material or replacing an existing material with another material whose characteristics provide better performance, is usually carried out by applying “trial-and-error” methods and/or by using previous experience.

Furthermore, materials selection is the prerequisite for a chain of different engineering selection problems, such as process selection, machine selection, tools selection, material handling equipment selection, supplier selection, and personnel selection ( Jahan and Edwards, 2015). Changing the materials set in an established technology is a rare event and can be considered as a revolution ( Curtarolo et al., 2013). Searching for suitable materials is a key part of the engineering design process, and is a multi-dimensional problem with many “boxes ticked” at the same time.

#CENTRAL MODULES OF THE AHP DECISION MAKING SOFTWARE#

Among the many fields where MCDM applied (computer software selection, project selection, and system selection), materials selection is certainly one of the most crucial. Similar conflicts arise between material properties and performance metrics in the choice of materials ( Sirisalee et al., 2004). For example, the compromises required to strike a balance between the performance and cost of a motor car, or between health and the pleasure of eating rich foods. Most real-life decision-making problems have several conflicting criteria and objectives to be considered simultaneously. Marjan Bahraminasab, in Multi-criteria Decision Analysis for Supporting the Selection of Engineering Materials in Product Design (Second Edition), 2016 4.4 Justification for applying MCDM in materials selection

Central modules of the ahp decision making