Application of a multiple attribute group decision making (MAGDM) model for selecting appropriate maintenance strategy for marine and offshore machinery operations

Abstract

The process of selecting appropriate maintenance strategy to enhance the operational efficiency of marine and offshore machinery under an uncertain environment is challenging due to the many criteria that need to be considered and modelled. In addition, the design of such complex machinery on-board a vessel consists of many subjective and imprecise parameters contained in different quantitative and qualitative forms. This paper proposes a strategic multi-attribute group decision-making (MAGDM) methodology for the concise and straightforward selection of an appropriate maintenance strategy. The decision support structure allows the use of multiple decision makers to incorporate and aggregate their subjective opinions transparently. In the analysis, a Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Situation (TOPSIS) was employed to rank the maintenance strategies with respect to costs and benefits for their subsequent implementation. The purpose of using MAGDM in this paper is to aggregate and synthesise opinions of experts, thus, guiding them in decision making when they are planning to implement a cost effective maintenance investment.