Technical note: An application of the analytic hierarchy process in equipment selection at Orhaneli open pit coal mine

Abstract

Equipment selection is one of the most important factors in open pit design and production planning. Equipment selection also affects economic considerations in open-pit design as a function of plan location and depth. Furthermore, equipment selection is a complex multiperson, multi-criteria decision problem. The group decision-making process can be improved by a systematic and logical approach to assess priorities based on the inputs of several specialists from different functional areas within the mine company. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) can be very useful in involving several decision-makers with different conflicting objectives to arrive at a consensus decision. In this paper, the selection of a loading-hauling system using an AHP-based model was evaluated for coal production in an open pit coal mine located Orhaneli, in western Turkey. The use of the proposed model indicates that it can be applied to improve group decision making in selecting equipment that satisfies optimal specifications. Also, it is found that the decision process is systematic and that using the proposed AHP model can reduce the time taken to select optimal equipment.