A hybrid method to select best process and suppliers, in the concurrent engineering environment

Abstract

AbstractSelection of a configuration for processes and suppliers in concurrent engineering (CE) environment is a very critical step in the new product development (NPD) process. Significance of this problem is clarified when many of the cost and time parameters are not available, in the early design stage. Therefore, considering simultaneous many of approximate parameters is necessary to develop an efficient product design. This paper proposes a hybrid method to address CE problem involving selection of processes and suppliers in an uncertain. The proposed method integrates multi objective programming and fuzzy AHP to select processes and suppliers, by simultaneous consideration of cost and time of production, quality and safety of the final product. A numerical example is used to illustrate the model and finally, article is ending with expressing some of the limitations and suggestions. This method can be used to develop decision-making systems to determine the optimal production design, in concurrent engineering platform.