Location Of Manufacturing Facilities Research Articles

A total distance ranking approach to fuzzy AHP-based MCDM method for selecting sustainable manufacturing facility location

Selecting a sustainable facility location is a crucial strategy for manufacturing companies to achieve long-term success in today’s competitive environment. Various quantitative and qualitative criteria with different importance in a multiple level structure must be considered and aggregated to assist the company in decision-making. How to determine these criteria weights and select the sustainable manufacturing facility locations have become research questions. To resolve this problem, this paper proposes a total distance ranking approach to fuzzy analytic hierarchical process (AHP)-based multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM) method. Currently, the membership functions of fuzzy weighted ratings in the MCDM with a multilevel structure cannot be developed. A ranking method is needed to defuzzify those fuzzy numbers used for fuzzy AHP and qualitative criteria in the MCDM for better executing decision-making procedure. The total distance ranking method related to the centroid on x-axis, centroid on y-axis and the distances of centroids point to the two tangent lines of a fuzzy number are considered in the proposed ranking approach. Formulas of the proposed approach will be presented, and some properties will be investigated to derive formulas for trapezoidal and triangular fuzzy numbers. A comparison with relevant ranking methods will be made to show the advantages of the proposed ranking approach. The proposed ranking approach is then applied to defuzzify the fuzzy numbers used in fuzzy AHP and linguistic values under qualitative criteria to obtain the criteria weights under multi-level structure and crisp values under qualitative criteria, respectively. The final scores of alternatives can be obtained by aggregating crisp criteria values and their corresponding weights by simple additive weighting method to obtain the ranking result. A numerical example will be conducted to show the effectiveness of the proposed model. Finally, a comparison with Best-Worst method (BWM) will be presented to show the persuasiveness of the proposed method.

Use of Intuitionistic Fuzzy Numbers in Survey Sampling Analysis with Application in Electronic Data Interchange

The validity of survey sampling depends on how precise the data is. The validity reduces when questionnaire contains linguistic variables and respondent has to answer in zero or one. The ambiguity in the respondent’s mind can be minimized by getting a response in an intuitionistic fuzzy sense. In this study, we proposed intuitionistic fuzzy aggregative investment benefit rate to select the best manufacturing facility location, where respondents expressed both membership function and nonmembership function for linguistic variables, with some hesitancy level, and give significant improvement over the fuzzy assessment method. The proposed methodology is also verified at different hesitancy levels and recommended to use a small hesitancy level. Real-life example of the use of electronic data interchange (EDI) in Pakistan’s different fields, such as business, commerce, transport, airlines, warehousing, and logistic and delivery industry, is used to support the proposed methodology. Thus, an intuitionistic fuzzy rate reduces the cost, time, and effort of survey sampling instead of taking and analyzing responses from large samples.

An examination of the influence of environmental justice policy, Executive Order 12898, on the spatial concentration of manufacturing facilities in EPA Region 6 1988-2009

Environmental justice is a theme of environmental policy, yet there is a dearth of empirical evidence in environmental justice literature to evaluate the impact of Executive Order (EO) 12898 on manufacturing facility location. This article examined whether governmental efforts aimed at achieving environmental justice have influenced the location of manufacturing facilities listed on the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) in EPA Region 6 from 1988 to 2009. This study identified the spatial scales of aggregated, random, and dispersed distributions of manufacturing facilities over time using the total number of manufacturing facilities. O-ring statistics were applied to examine the problem at different spatial scales and describe the changes in the spatial distribution of facilities pre- and post- enactment of EO 12898. Results showed that facilities are aggregated at small spatial scales (≤20 km) and vary at intermediate and large scales. Overall, it appeared that EO 12898 did not influence facility location uniformly and that county and local level factors may be of importance. These findings are important for environmental managers, policy-makers, activists, and scholars in addressing environmental justice outcomes.

Manufacturing facility location and sustainability: A literature review and research agenda

The perspectives on the manufacturing footprint of global firms are widening from the economic aspects to also include the environmental and social aspects. Thus, sustainability is becoming an important issue for the location of manufacturing facilities. It is therefore timely to review the relevant aspects and dimensions in the extant literature to investigate the relationship between sustainability and facility location. In this paper, we aim to understand how sustainability aspects are included in decision-making concerning manufacturing facility locations and the role of location in evaluating manufacturing sustainability. We examine the literature streams on sustainability and facility location. A comprehensive search includes peer-reviewed literature from 1990 to 2011. We propose a literature classification scheme with respect to focal area and research methodology. The content analysis identifies the environmental, social and economic perspectives and factors affecting location decisions. We synthesize the findings into a framework for taking sustainability aspects into account in manufacturing facility location decision-making. We also propose a research agenda for further research on sustainable locations.

Industrial Location Decisions of Biotechnology Organizations

Biotechnology will have a tremendous effect on future worldwide economic development and competitiveness. This article describes research on biotechnology location decisions and economic development and characteristics of American biotechnology companies and employment. This background provides a foundation for discussing empirical evidence from commercial biotechnology enterprises in the Greater Seattle region, a major American biotechnology concentration. Research findings indicate the importance of university research activities, academic spinoffs, and entrepreneurial behavior in biotechnology firm development. Research and development (R&D) and manufacturing facility location decisions emphasized founder preferences, proximity to either university or company facilities, labor agglomeration economies, and the local infrastructure. Federal and state regulations and taxes, marketing capabilities, and financing sources were leading operational restrictions affecting company growth. These findings suggest increasing university and company R&D funding and expanding existing high-technology complexes to encourage regional biotechnology economic development.

New and emerging technologies: a competitive edge for national success

New technologies and adaptations of those technologies are changing international economic standards and criteria for a competitive advantage in the world market–place. Many opportunities for investment exist, but countries must carefully evaluate current strengths and weaknesses, monitor trends and technological developments, and choose wisely where to invest their resources. This paper reviews the factors developing nations must consider when investing in new technologies and how to attract the location of manufacturing facilities in their countries. Highlights include: what makes up a competitive advantage, planning for technology transfer, researching customer needs and technological interface requirements, researching and monitoring technological developments, meeting world quality standards, the need for a skilled and educated workforce, and the importance of an efficient infrastructure.