A fuzzy multiple decision support for jag selection

Abstract

A rough mill is a manufacturing facility where lumber is processed into components to be used in assembling wood products such as windows and doors. A cut-list is a list of components of specific sizes and quantities, which are scheduled to processed at one time. Selection of suitable jags (loads if lumber) from candidates for a given cut-list is a complex decision due to the imprecision in the description of jags and cut-lists. Four criteria that determine a good jag are yield, cost, percentage of order satisfied, and processing time. The importance of each criterion depends on the cut-list that is being processed. In this paper, a fuzzy multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) approach for jag selection is utilized as a decision support system (DSS) for the decision maker (DM). Fuzzy sets are defined to describe the cut-list, and fuzzy rules are constructed to set the pairwise weights between decision criteria. The fuzzy weights for multiple criteria are determined using a fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP). Three cut-lists are tested in the decision support system. The generated fuzzy weights reflect the requirement of cut-lists, and proper jags are selected using fuzzy technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS).