A concurrent decision-making approach toward uncertainty, vagueness and risk appetite for sustainable manufacturing systems

Abstract

The present work relates to devising a decision-making framework to select suitably the best material alternative for the production of automotive parts produced through the high-pressure die casting process. The problem has been addressed keeping in view the quintessential aspects of sustainability and energy efficiency in the metal casting process. The presented decision-making approach has the potential ability to handle the uncertainty and vagueness concurrently with the fluctuations in the data for a given phase of time. These have been incorporated through the conceptual framework of the complex interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy model. Moreover, the psychological behavior of the decision-maker toward risk perspective has also been given due consideration in the devised decision-making framework through the TOmada de Decisao Interativa Multicriterio (TODIM) method based on cumulative prospect theory approach. The proposed approach has been referred to as the complex interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy TODIM approach. A total of three material alternatives have been evaluated under the influence of eighteen conflicting criteria. Aluminum turns out to be the best material alternative, while on the other hand magnesium alloy was revealed to be the worst-performing among considered materials. Sensitivity analysis revealed the robustness of the ranking results, emphasizing the importance of the risk appetite of the decision-maker. Comparative analysis reveals a strong correlation between the ranking results and hence the validity. The decision-making approach therefore can be employed to promote sustainable engineering practices by minimizing the material wastage in other energy-intensive manufacturing processes.