Analytic Hierarchy Process Theory Research Articles

Research on Quality Evaluation of Customized Plank Furniture Based on the Entropy Weight-Analytical Hierarchy Process

Custom-made furniture is a product of the marketplace. At present, the concept of whole-house custom-made furniture has not been clearly defined. In the market, custom-made furniture for the whole house is mainly designated panel furniture. As the custom furniture market continues to expand, consumer complaints about custom furniture are increasing. However, there is no effective supervision model for the new decoration business of whole-house custom-made furniture. The market for customized furniture is constantly expanding. Under the current circumstances, the regulatory approach is difficult to implement effectively for a time. Faced with this transitional stage, this article proposes to evaluate the quality risk of custom-made furniture by means of evaluation. Combined with industry experts’ discussion on consumer complaints and concerns, this article builds a customized furniture product quality evaluation system. According to the constructed quality evaluation system of customized furniture products, with the help of the basic theory of entropy weight method and analytic hierarchy process, determine the weight of each index. Finally, through empirical research, it is proved that this method has a strong operability for the quality evaluation of customized furniture.

A prioritization framework for the analysis of near misses in radiation oncology.

The term near miss implies the aversion of a harm event but often there is a lack of evidence when establishing a link between a failure in process and potential harm. The focus of this study was to use reported incident data to inform a prioritization framework for the triage of near miss events in a radiation therapy program. Actual and near miss events during the study period were categorized using thematic analysis based on incident types. Near miss were characterized based upon their potential to result in harm to the patient using the concepts of failure modes and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) theory. Near miss events were assessed for occurrence, detection and the potential impact and then assigned a summative normalized score reflecting prioritization recommendations, the normalized 10 point score (NTPS). 107 events were reported within the study timeframe. 65% of event type categories (n = 20) were attributed to near misses. 107 total events we analyzed using the framework with a maximum NTPS of 4 achieved across all event types. Of the 47 actual events 100% received a NTPS of 3 or greater. Of the 60 near miss invents 47% received an NTPS less than or equal to 1. Finally 15% of near miss events received a NTPS of 3 or greater. Near miss events provide a unique opportunity for learning however, can yield a great deal of data potentially limiting the resources for effective incident learning. A FMEA and AHP based prioritization framework for the triage of near miss events, including the likelihood of occurrence, probability of the event to go undetected and the potential impact if the incident did occur, allows for the optimal focus of programmatic resources in the analysis of these events.

A Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process and Cooperative Game Theory Combined Multiple Mobile Robot Navigation Algorithm.

This study presents a multi-robot navigation strategy based on a multi-objective decision-making algorithm, the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP). FAHP analytically selects an optimal position as a sub-goal among points on the sensing boundary of a mobile robot considering the following three objectives: the travel distance to the target, collision safety with obstacles, and the rotation of the robot to face the target. Alternative solutions are evaluated by quantifying the relative importance of the objectives. As the FAHP algorithm is insufficient for multi-robot navigation, cooperative game theory is added to improve it. The performance of the proposed multi-robot navigation algorithm is tested with up to 12 mobile robots in several simulation conditions, altering factors such as the number of operating robots and the warehouse layout.

Application of catastrophe theory to spatial analysis of groundwater potential in a sub-humid tropical region: a hybrid approach

Geospatial techniques and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) play a crucial role in the planning and management of land and water resources. GIS-based MCDA technique ‘Catastrophe theory’ has been recently proposed for evaluating groundwater potential. However, the major limitation of ‘Catastrophe theory’ is that only quantitative factors/thematic layers can be used for assessing groundwater potential, though qualitative factors are equally important. To overcome this inherent limitation, a novel GIS-based MCDA approach named ‘Hybrid Catastrophe’ technique is proposed in this study. The ‘Hybrid Catastrophe’ technique integrates the original ‘Catastrophe theory’ with the ‘Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)’ to take into account both qualitative and quantitative thematic layers for assessing groundwater potential, thereby improving the reliability and versatility of the original Catastrophe technique. The applicability of ‘Hybrid Catastrophe’ technique is demonstrated through a case study wherein 8 influential thematic layers (both quantitative and qualitative) were considered for assessing groundwater potential. The four quantitative layers were assigned weights based on the ‘Catastrophe theory’ and the remaining four qualitative layers were assigned weights based on the ‘AHP theory’. These thematic layers were integrated in GIS to delineate groundwater potential zones. The ‘Hybrid Catastrophe’ technique yields four groundwater potential zones in the study area: (i) ‘very good’ (covering 16% of the study area), (ii) ‘good’ (54%), (iii) ‘moderate’ (29%) and (iv) ‘poor’ (1%) and its accuracy was found to be 77% that is reasonably high. The proposed ‘Hybrid Catastrophe’ technique is versatile and it can be successfully applied to other parts of the world for evaluating groundwater potential at diverse spatial scales irrespective of agro-climatic, hydrologic and hydrogeologic conditions.

AHP YÖNTEMİ KULLANILARAK TAŞIMACILIK FİRMALARI İÇİN AKARYAKIT TEDARİKÇİSİ SEÇİMİ

Selection of proper fuel supplier is extremely important for companies that carry out transportation activities and it can be evaluated as a critical decision to obtain competitive advantages in the transportation market. A structural and systematic frame is suggested in this paper in order to solve the decision problems for fuel supplier selection. In order to determine the selection criteria, the board of experts was constructed and a large number of roundtable meetings that realized in the way of brainstorm were organized with them. One of the most important questions can be asked as what are the selection criteria and decision options for the fuel supplier selection process? Experts who are a decision maker in their companies tried to seek a rational answer to this question. At the end of these meetings, obtained results were re-evaluated by the members of the board and selection criteria and decision options that will use for evaluation process were determined. The decision alternatives are Brand-P, Brand-B, Brand-S, and Brand-O. The selection criteria can be sorted as: fuel price per liter, product quality, service quality, easy terms of payment, brand awareness, environmental sensitivity. Actually, selection of fuel and fuel supplier has an extremely complex characteristic and it is a multi-criteria decision-making problem. In this paper, the analytic hierarchy process theory was selected as a multi-criteria decision making problem in order to solve the decision making problem concerning with fuel and fuel supplier selection process. By using this methodology, decision makers can select the best fuel brand and fuel supplier by comparing variables such as selection criteria and decision alternatives in a mathematical model.

Development of a model to assess the impact of lean practices on firm performance in SMEs

The purpose of this paper is to develop a model that assesses the impact of lean manufacturing practices on performance enhancement in Indian SMEs. In this present work, empirical study did in small and medium enterprises of Northern India and case studies have been used for drawing out the learning issues and their inferences for developing a model using qualitative modelling approach. Qualitative modelling which consists of options field methodology (OFM), options profile methodology (OPM), analytical Hierarchy process (AHP) and fuzzy set theory (FST) methods are applied for synthesising the learning issues into options and further prioritising the performance parameters. Four options profiles mainly considered were process improvements based approach (PBA), people oriented approach (POA), top management leadership (TML) and mixed approach (MA). From all the approaches, MA has come out to be preferred for effective implementing the lean manufacturing practices and enhancing the overall performance of the organisation.

Ecological Impact Assessment of Water Resources Utilization in Delingha City, Northwest Inland River Region

In recent years, regional climate change and the intensification of human activities have made the problem of water shortage particularly prominent. It is of great significance to conduct in-depth research on the ecological environmental impact and evaluation methods caused by the use of regional water resources. Based on the characteristics and actual conditions of Delingha City in the northwest inland river region, this article established the Northwest in terms of water conservation, vegetation stability, soil conservation, and soil quality improvement in accordance. The ecological environment impact assessment index system of Delingha City in the inland river area is combined with the analytic hierarchy process and cloud theory model to establish an evaluation model. The purpose is to scientifically and reasonably evaluate the ecological environmental impact of Delingha City in the northwest inland river area. The results show that the overall impact on the ecological environment of Delingha City is the third level and is in a good state, in which water conservation and soil quality improvement are in a good state, and the other two criterion levels are in a normal state, and the annual precipitation accounts for a larger weight.

Evaluation of TPM strategies for manufacturing performance improvement of Indian SMEs for strategic success

Indian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the heart of large organisations because every large organisation is purchasing a number of components from SMEs. In this study, the authors have made a qualitative model to find the preferred improvement strategy (TPM strategies) for implementing them in Indian SMEs by using an options field methodology (OFM), options profile methodology (OPM), analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and fuzzy set theory (FST). For this, first of all find various issues concerning improvement strategies and performance improvement through a questionnaire. OFM has converted these issues into options and then categorise them. The authors have identified four improvement strategies as profiles or a course of actions by using OPM. Pair wise comparison of AHP methodology is used to find the weight of various objectives of manufacturing performance improvement. Finally, FST is used to rank these four improvement strategies by making weighted position matrix and dominance matrix.

Evaluation of port emergency logistics systems based on grey analytic hierarchy process

The marine economy has become a growth point for the regional economy. International resource exchange is mainly achieved through marine transportation. Ports play a vital role in marine transportation and also play an important role in some large-scale international rescue activities. When an emergency occurs in the port, the port emergency logistics system has an important impact on the collection and distribution of materials, which can effectively reduce the negative impact and economic loss caused by the emergency. Through in-depth analysis of the emergency logistics system, design the comprehensive evaluation system of the port emergency logistics distribution system, and based on the characteristics of the grey, fuzzy and difficult to quantify the influencing factors of the emergency logistics distribution system, apply the analytic hierarchy process and grey system theory to establish the gray level comprehensive evaluation model of the port emergency logistics distribution system. In this model, the analytic hierarchy process is used to determine the index weight, and then the grey theory is used to comprehensively evaluate the emergency logistics distribution system. Finally, the port is used as a case to verify the practicability and effectiveness of the model.

An original framework for strategic technology development of small manufacturing enterprises in emerging economies

PurposeTechnology and knowledge have become the buzzwords of the new millennium. Technological changes and demanding customers are creating a more knowledge intensive, turbulent, complex and uncertain environment. Organizations, which are able to continually build faster and cheaper new strategic assets than their competitors, create long-term competitive advantages. Thus, the growth of companies is directly associated with innovativeness and technological development, especially for small organizations that are more vulnerable to dynamic changes in market place. Organizations need a strategic framework that can help them to achieve the goal of technology development and competitiveness. The purpose of this paper is to develop such strategic framework for small organizations for their technology development and, hence, survival in marketplace.Design/methodology/approachOptions field methodology, options profile methodology, analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and fuzzy set theory are utilized to generate various options and profiles to propose a conceptual framework for technology development.FindingsThe results from the study showed that “mixed approach,” “strategic simulation approach” and the “regulatory environment approach,” in this order, emerged as the top three important options for the strategic technological development of small manufacturing enterprises.Originality/valueThis result can provide an original and more accurate implementation pathway toward technological innovative development in emerging economies. The proposed framework can provide valuable guidelines and recommendations to practicing managers and analysts for policy development to promote innovative and technological developments.

Modified Index-Overlay Method to Assess Spatial–Temporal Variations of Groundwater Vulnerability and Groundwater Contamination Risk in Areas with Variable Activities of Agriculture Developments

The groundwater vulnerability (GV) assessment for contamination is an effective technique for the planning, policy, and decision-making, as well as for sustainable groundwater resource protection and management. The GV depends strongly on local hydrogeological settings and land-use conditions that may vary in response to the activities of agricultural development. In this study, a modified DRASTIC model, which employs an additional factor of land use coupled with the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) theory, was used to quantify the spatial and temporal variation of GV and groundwater contamination risk in the Pingtung groundwater basin. The results show that the GV slightly decreased due to the decrease in agricultural areas under the change of land use over two decades (1995–2017). The yearly changes or a shorter period of observations incorporated with the accurate land-use map in DRASTIC parameters could improve GV maps to obtain a better representation of site-specific conditions. Meanwhile, the maps of yearly contamination risk indicated that the counties of Jiuru and Ligang are at high risk of nitrate pollution since 2016. In other agriculture-dominated regions such as Yanpu, Changzhi, and Gaoshu in the Pingtung groundwater basin, the climate conditions influence less the temporal variations of groundwater contamination risk. The results of this study are expected to support policy-makers to adopt the strategies of sustainable development for groundwater resources in local areas.

Identification and evaluation of human errors esing human factor analysis and classification system based on fuzzy hierarchy theory: a case study in the cement industry

Introduction: Human factors studies have shown that about 80% of the root causes of major accidents have effected on safety, the environment or ergonomics are related to the human error. The purpose of this study was to identify human errors using the HFACS method and the FAHP theory in cement industry.
 Methods: The present study was a retrospective study carried out in one cement industry of fars provience. At first, the RCA analysis of 95 incidents occurred during the past six years was prepared. Then, by integrating the human factors analysis and classification system technique) HFACS( and the theory of fuzzy analytic hierarchy process) FAHP( by 4 safety engineers of the factory was analyzed.
 Results: The results of this study showed that the highest errors were related to the first level with the weight of 0.272, that was, the errors caused by unsafe acts, at this level of the subgroup of "skill-based error" with the weight of 0.269, the 2nd level of the sub-group of "industrial environment" with the weight of 0.155 , the 3rd subgroup of "inadequate supervision" with the weight of 0.352 and the 4th sub-category of "resource management" with the weight of 0.393 had the highest impact on the levels.
 Conclusion: The results show that errors have various causes, including individual, activity, situational, and organizational errors that require careful planning and management to eliminate or reduce these errors. This error reduction, according to safety expert theory, health and environment of the cement plant, including the promotion and effectiveness of staff training, safety guidelines, improvement of staff performance monitoring, identification, evaluation and elimination of high-risk risks, improvement of management and equipment systems, changing safety attitudes, as well as enhancing safety attitudes. Awareness can help reduce the likelihood of human error in the organization.

Evaluation of Open-Pit Mine Security Risk Based on FAHP-Extenics Matter-Element Model

In order to timely find out the safety problems in the production process, in this study, we focused on the present safety situation of ChangShaoHao open-pit gold mine in Inner Mongolia and established the overall safety environment risk evaluation matter-element model based on the Fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP) and extenics theory. In addition, for the analysis, four criteria layer indexes, thirteen sub-criteria layer indexes, and thirty-one measure layer indexes were selected as the overall risk (target layer) evaluation object. The basic data were mainly acquired by the means of on-site investigation, data analysis of the engineering, expert questionnaire, etc., followed by calculating the correlation degree of the bottom indexes with respect to the four safety grades through the extenics theory, and combining with the index weight of other layers obtained by the FAHP method. Finally, the comprehensive evaluation result was worked out. The overall security level of the open-pit mine is II, indicating that the overall safety level of the open-pit mine is acceptable. Simultaneously, some serious risks on mine’s safety need to be observed. The evaluation result fitted under the practical situation of the engineering, providing a good decision-making basis for the safe production and management work of gold mine.

Groundwater potential assessment of an alluvial aquifer in Yamuna sub-basin (Panipat region) using remote sensing and GIS techniques in conjunction with analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and catastrophe theory (CT)

Abstract The economic and population growth worldwide are moving once invisible resource, “groundwater” into the headlines. The importance of groundwater in India can be realised from the fact that the majority of the irrigated food production is dependent on it. In Haryana state of India, where the present study has been conducted, the groundwater draft is more (13.9 × 109 m3) against the net availability of recharge (10.3 × 109 m3). Therefore, in Panipat region of Yamuna sub basin an attempt has been made to evaluate the groundwater potential zones, so that the groundwater stress areas can be sustainably managed. The present research accentuated the expediency of geospatial technology and selection of multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) techniques to evaluate the groundwater potential of the study area. Two MCDM methods namely Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Catastrophe Theory (CT) for the weighted overlay were employed in combination with remote sensing and GIS techniques for the demarcation of groundwater potential zones of the region. These models were validated with a groundwater resource potential map i.e. validation map prepared using field data by classifying the output maps into four categories on the basis of quantiles. Both the models used for the identification of groundwater potential zones gave similar results in terms of areal extent whereas the spatial distribution of groundwater prospect of AHP and CT was significantly distinct and CT method yielded better results on validation. Further, sensitivity analysis was carried out to know the effect of weights assigned to the input indicators/variable in both the MCDM techniques.

Analytic Hierarchy Process in an Inspection Evaluation of National Parks’ Websites: The Case Study of Greece

Internet and websites, thanks to their popularity, are powerful tools than can be used to inform local society and the visitors on the role of the Protected Areas and National Parks, their ecological value, the restrictions for visitors, the ecotourism activities and contribute to informing and raising awareness. In order to evaluate and compare the websites of National Parks, an inspection evaluation experiment is presented. As a case study we have used the websites of National Parks in Greece, as Greece has rich biodiversity and a lot of tourists visiting the country during the summer. In order to process the results of the evaluation, we used a Multi Criteria Decision Making Theory, namely Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). AHP has a formal way of quantifying the qualitative criteria of the alternatives and in this way removes the subjectivity of the results. The paper provides the basic steps of the experiment based on the advantages of the inspection methods and the steps of the AHP theory. The implementation of the particular experiment leads to conclusions about the electronic presence of National Parks in Greece.

Study on Evaluation Model of Equipment Transportation Efficiency Based on Analytic Hierarchy Process

On the basis of factors influencing the evaluation of equipment transportation efficiency, such as safety, timeliness, universality and economy of system analysis, and in combination with the basic theory of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), this paper sorted out the main steps for evaluation of equipment transportation efficiency, established the hierarchical chart for evaluation index of equipment transportation efficiency, proposed a comprehensive evaluation model of equipment transportation efficiency based on AHP, and verified the feasibility of this model through the specific cases. The comprehensive evaluation model of equipment transportation efficiency based on AHP proposed by this paper provides a method for the decision makers to select the optimal design scheme for equipment transportability, and lays a foundation for related studies of equipment transportability.

Application evaluation of clinical practice guidelines for traditional Chinese medicine: a clinical analysis based on the analytic hierarchy process

BackgroundClinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs) play an important role in clinical practice, and they require appropriate evaluation, especially in application. This study explores the application evaluation method of CPGs for Traditional Chinese Medicines (TCM). It uses the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and clinical cases to evaluate the consistency between CPGs of TCM and clinical practice.MethodsTo evaluate the consistency between CPGs of TCM and clinical cases, a 3-level AHP construction was built. Weightings were calculated by collecting questionnaires according to AHP theory. To test the evaluation system, a retrospective study was performed. The study evaluated the China Association of Chinese Medicine’s Guidelines for Diagnosis and Treatment of Common Internal Diseases in Chinese Medicine Diseases of Modern Medicine (CPGs of DTCID) (ZYYXH/T50–135-2008). A total of 150 cases were involved. The evaluation system was used to assess the consistency between CPGs of DTCID and clinical cases of angina pectoris.ResultsThe results showed that the overall consistency between CPGs of DTCID and the 150 cases was 42.32 ± 6.94%, ranging from 35.21 to 63.37%. The overall consistency was not affected by age, gender, type of angina pectoris, condition of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), or angina classification as determined by the Canadian Cardiovascular Society. The consistencies of each index were as follows: Diagnosis of TCM, 100%; Diagnosis of Western medicine, 100%; Syndrome classification, 38.25 ± 4.40%; Syndrome key point, 34.17 ± 8.15%; TCM Decoction, 31.08 ± 23.64%; TCM particular treatment, 7.92 ± 19.13%; and Recuperation and prevention, 0. The most frequent syndromes were qi-deficiency, phlegm and blood stasis (n = 124) (82.7%). The overall consistency of qi-deficiency, turbid phlegm and blood stasis was lower than the overall consistency of the group without that syndrome. The difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). 42 cases (28%) applied the TCM decoction recommended by CPGs of DTCID. Of these, Gualouxiebaibanxia decoction was applied in 34 cases. Wendan decoction, the most frequently used, was applied in 64 cases (42.7%).ConclusionThis study indicates that the AHP system can perform quantitative evaluation of consistency between TCM CPG and clinical practice. It also found the factors affecting the application of TCM CPGs and might indicate the need for revisions of CPGs.

Sustainability-informed multi-criteria decision support framework for ranking and prioritization of pavement sections

Abstract Ranking and prioritizing pavement infrastructure for maintenance and rehabilitation have become major undertakings for several departments of transportation around the globe. This is a complex decision-making problem because multiple and conflicting criteria can contribute to the assessment. Multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) techniques evaluate the trade-off between several quantitative and qualitative criteria and facilitate complex decision-making. This research introduces a framework based on MCDA to support pavement management decision making, while quantifying emerging sustainability-related factors such as safety, noise, and pollution in the decision-making process. The framework features include 1) identifying pavement management main decision elements: objectives, criteria, and attributes by detailing the problem with a five-level hierarchy structure; 2) employing combined analytic hierarchy process and multi-attribute utility theory to develop representative set of utility functions; and 3) ranking and prioritizing large networks of pavement sections while incorporating sustainability-related criteria. Data used to assess the decision criteria and develop the utility functions is extracted by means of a questionnaire survey completed by professionals working in the field of pavement management. The proposed method is applied to a case study consisting of ten pavement sections extracted from the long-term pavement performance database, wherein the sections are ranked based on their attributes. Sensitivity analysis is performed to evaluate the impact of the different criteria on the ranking process. The proposed method has shown potential in ranking pavement networks based on the identified criteria. Future work can test the performance of the proposed methodology with a full-scale pavement network and apply it to other civil infrastructure assets to evaluate its performance with different types of projects.

Smart Grid Risk Warning Based on Multi-Level Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process

Real-time control of the risks that may occur in the smart grid is of great significance for the safe and efficient operation of the smart grid. This paper establishes a risk early warning system for smart grids based on analytic hierarchy process and fuzzy theory. Firstly, the analytic hierarchy process is used to comprehensively consider the system line, load, system power supply capacity and environment and other factors to establish a smart grid evaluation index system. Then the comprehensive weights of each level of indicators are calculated, and then the evaluation matrix of the index is established by combining the membership function. Finally, the fuzzy theory is used to predict the system risk. The case study shows that the qualitative and quantitative early warning system for assessing smart grid risk has good practicability.

Comprehensive safety management practice of urban water environment treatment project

In order to effectively improve the safety management level of water environment treatment projects and reduce the incidence of safety accidents, we propose a comprehensive safety management method PNCC (predict, notify, check, control) based on KYK (kiken yochi katsudo, i. e., hazard prediction activities), causal analysis, analytic hierarchy process, 5S (seiri, seiton, seiso, seiketsu, shitsuke, i. e., sort, straighten, shine, standardize, sustain) and PDCA (plan, do, check, action) theory. During the implementation of PNCC, new technologies such as quick response code, video surveillance system and controlling safety APP are applied to promote the realization of full-staff, whole-process, all-round management and continuous improvement. The PNCC model is successfully applied in the Maozhou River Water Environment Treatment Project. The proposed theory and safety management techniques can also be applied to other construction projects.