Location Of Production Facilities Research Articles

Exact Method for Production Hub Location

This study proposes a production hub location (PHL) problem that integrates the classical multiplant lot-sizing and hub location problems. The PHL problem is to determine the location of production facilities, lot-sizing, inventory, hub location, and the distribution of multiple commodities from plants to customers, with an objective to minimize the total production, setup, inventory, hub operating, and transportation costs. The PHL problem applies to manufacturing companies that either have built a hub-and-spoke distribution network or are accessible to such a network through collaborations with other third-party logistics companies. Because the PHL problem is [Formula: see text]-hard, we propose an exact method that integrates dynamic programming and Benders decomposition (DPBD) for solving the problem. The DPBD method is enhanced by exploring several problem properties, such as a multicut reformulation, the generation of Pareto-optimal cuts, a two-stage hub elimination and restoration procedure, and the inclusion of a novel heuristic procedure. We compare the PHL model with several related models theoretically and computationally with newly created benchmark instances. The computational results indicate that the proposed model can reduce the total costs and facilitate better network designs and system decisions, highlighting the value of an integrated approach. We also provide managerial insights into the benefits of integration and show the efficiency of the DPBD method through an extensive number of computational tests. History: Accepted by Andrea Lodi, Area Editor for Design and Analysis of Algorithms—Discrete. Supplemental Material: The online supplement is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/ijoc.2023.0339 .

Методи прийняття багатоцільових рішень щодо управління транспарентністю розвитку підприємств в умовах конвергенції інвестиційних процесів

It is determined that one of the priorities in any national economy is the problem of forecasting and assessing the level of transparency of development, quality and reliability of functioning of industrial enterprises, their technological and economic subsystems. This has a direct impact on the level of investment, the nature of financing, the distribution of costs for the production of finished products with the achievement of a given quality and reliability, as well as on the financial condition and image. In addition, it has a direct proportional effect on the well-being of society and the quality of life of the population. On the other hand, investing in the real sector of the economy requires banks and other investors not only to optimize investment programs, but also to take into account the specifics of financial, production, economic and socioeconomic activities of industrial enterprises as market participants, and, accordingly, application of models that appropriately link investments with sales policies, production, management, staff, location of production facilities, taxation, etc. It is concluded that the positive level of management of transparency of development of industrial enterprises in the context of convergence of investment processes is inseparable from the processes of planning, regulation, control and forecasting of production and technological processes, as well as the allocation of resources in the process of performing certain complex tasks. Determining the optimal options for current and future development is often associated with solving large-dimensional optimization problems with a large number of different conditions and constraints (for example, requirements for the completeness of variables combined with requirements for the absence of time losses), which, due to their extreme nature, complicate the solution of such problems. Effective methods for optimizing multi-purpose investment decisions in managing the transparency of the development of industrial enterprises in the context of convergence of investment processes include methods for analyzing the usefulness of goals, criteria and alternatives, including those with several vectors; methods of hierarchy of goals, taking into account a number of advantages; information about the chosen strategy, alternatives, their parameterization, stochasticity, substitution ratios, and other characteristics. All these factors can be taken into account for the classification of models of multi-purpose and program-target solutions and the use of the most effective of them when choosing the optimal investment solution in managing the transparency of the development of industrial enterprises in the context of convergence of investment processes.

Management of Changes in the Process of Safe Development of Economic Agents

The constant growth of riskiness and uncertainty of the business environment determines the necessity for organizational changes and strategies, models, and approaches for their implementation. In developing countries, the issue of organizational changes and effective strategies is especially relevant due to unprecedented changes in the political, economic, and social systems, which creates problems of adaptation and growth of companies. The purpose of the academic paper lies in identifying the features of management of changes in the process of safe development of economic agents in developing countries and those undergoing significant transformations of the external environment. The methodology is based on a mixed research methodology on the basis of a statistical analysis of the market environment for the functioning of Ukrainian agricultural enterprises and a survey through an indirect structured interview with managers of agricultural enterprises. The results show that agricultural enterprises constantly implement management changes due to changes in expectations regarding the main performance indicators and market dynamics (changes in production volumes, product prices, and the number of employees). In the conditions of dynamic transformations of the political and economic environment, agricultural enterprises are modifying their activity strategies, business models, and resource allocation and production volumes. The key areas of changes relate to the following spheres of activity, namely: financing, supply and logistics, location of production facilities, exports, production volumes. Agricultural enterprises have been forced to switch to business downsizing strategies, which are mainly aimed at reducing costs in the economic downturn, efficient allocation of resources and personnel management. The survey of company personnel indicates a significant change in the administrative processes of resource management, essential modifications in market orientation. Significant resistance of employees towards changes, low level of participatory culture and lack of leadership support have been identified as key obstacles to changes.

Identifikacija i ublažavanje poremećaja globalnih lanaca snabdevanja u uslovima neizvesnosti

Organizations face a number of decisions in designing their supply chains, which include the number, type and location of production facilities, distribution centers, retail facilities, service or technical support centers, supplier selection, supply chain information management and integration of all parts. into an efficient and effective system. Improper supply chain design can undermine an organization's strategy, lead to lower revenues, less competitiveness, market share and profits. As product lines and markets change or expand, the design or redesign of supply chains becomes an even more critical issue. The risks to which supply chains are exposed are different, and their functioning can be disrupted by a number of situations, which have had serious global consequences in the past. In addition to wars, nuclear accidents, cataclysmic earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, explosions, fires and tsunamis, epidemics of SARS, MERS, HIV, Ebola and Zika viruses, as well as the latest Covid-19 pandemic, have led to the knowledge that humanity is powerless in the face of such catastrophes. Regardless of the achievements in science, extensive and long-term medical research, epidemics (pandemics) have taken millions of lives and had negative effects on society as a whole, but also on the efficiency of business and supply chains. Past epidemics have attracted the attention of scientists and industry experts, resulting in the need to reengineer organizations and adjust supply chains to future challenges. In the context of the current pandemic, serious disturbances have been reported, so a large number of industries have had unprecedented consequences. Responses to such epidemics suggest that global supply chains need to be more integrated and digitally ready. Digitization of supply chains could improve the quality of responses to epidemic-related disorders by increasing their flexibility in such circumstances. This paper identifies the most important disruptions and measures to mitigate the consequences of these disruptions in global supply chains, as well as risk management in conditions of uncertainty.

Research of cargo seaports development in the Russian federation in the context of port basins

Seaports play a key role in the development of cargo turnover and international trade. About 60% of the Russian Federation foreign trade cargoes are handled in seaports. Improving the quality of seaports, which serve the increasing capacity of global freight traffic, is an important task for those countries, involved in the transportation of goods by sea. The article presents analyses of the development of stevedoring industry in Russia in the context of port basins. The statistical base covers a 16-year period. The research methods are statistical analysis and econometric modeling. The result of the study is an economic and geographical model of cargo transshipment in the Russian Federation, distributed over the sea basins. The model is built taking into account the geographical localization of certain types of cargoes, caused by the location of production facilities and peculiarities of logistics routes linking shippers and consignees. The model reflects the relationship between the development of the stevedoring industry and the regional economy. Based on the constructed model, conclusions about the presence of development prospects and constraints typical for each analyzed port were made. Among the limiting factors for the development of the stevedoring industry in Russia, the lack of rapid development of railway infrastructure and insufficient depth of channels in the waters of seaports are highlighted. Tools to overcome these problems have been proposed.

Two-Stage Geothermal Well Clustering for Oil-to-Water Conversion on Mature Oil Fields

There are numerous oil fields that are approaching the end of their lifetime and that have great geothermal potential considering temperature and water cut. On the other hand, the oil industry is facing challenges due to increasingly stringent environmental regulations. An example of this is the case of France where oil extraction will be forbidden starting from the year 2035. Therefore, some oil companies are considering switching from the oil business to investing in geothermal projects conducted on existing oil wells. The proposed methodology and developed conversions present the evaluation of existing geothermal potentials for each oil field in terms of water temperature and flow rate. An additional important aspect is also the spatial distribution of existing oil wells related to the specific oil field. This paper proposes a two-stage clustering approach for grouping similar wells in terms of their temperature properties. Once grouped on a temperature basis, these clusters should be clustered once more with respect to their spatial arrangement in order to optimize the location of production facilities. The outputs regarding production quantities and economic and environmental aspects will provide insight into the optimal scenario for oil-to-water conversion. The scenarios differ in terms of produced energy and technology used. A case study has been developed where the comparison of overall fields and clustered fields is shown, together with the formed scenarios that can further determine the possible conversion of petroleum assets to a geothermal assets.

Assessing the Balance of the Urban Settlement System in the European North of Russia

Introduction. In modern Economics, one of the most common and simplest methods of analyzing the balance of urban settlement systems is to assess their compliance with Zipf's law or the rank–size rule. The basis of this pattern is the relationship between urban population and its place in the hierarchy of towns ranked in descending order of size. Based on the results of the study conducted, the article assesses the balance of the urban settlement system of the European North Russia, as one of its regions, by analyzing its compliance with Zipf’s law. Materials and Methods. The official data from the Federal State Statistics Service on the population of towns in the European North of Russia for 1959, 1989 and 2019 were used as materials of the study. The method of constructing a linear regression between the logarithm of the actual population and the logarithm of the rank of the town was used to verify Zipf's law for the urban network of the region in a certain period. In order to substantiate the conclusions drawn, an analysis of the dynamics of the number of towns and the share of the population living in them was carried out. The monographic method, as well as the methods of tabular and graphical data visualization, was used to interpret the results of the calculations. Results. Based on the analysis of data on the application of the rank–size rule for the towns in the European North of Russia, it has been found that Zipf’s law was not fully observed in any time period, which indicates the imbalance of the existing urban settlement system. In the period from 1959 to 2019, there was an increase in the concentration of the population in the major cities of the region. The imbalance is also caused by the growing number of small towns with a population that does not correspond to the optimal value according to Zipf's law. Discussion and Conclusion. Based on the calculations, the author has come to the conclusion that the cities of Arkhangelsk and Cherepovets have the potential for growth, as well as some others with a population of up to 100 thousand people. The practical significance of the study lies in the possibility of using the results obtained to prognosticate the population of towns in the European North of Russia when planning the location of production facilities, as well as transport and social infrastructure in the region.

ЕКОЛОГО-ГІГІЄНІЧНІ АСПЕКТИ ФУНКЦІОНУВАННЯ ПІДПРИЄМСТВ-СУБ’ЄКТІВ ГОСПОДАРЮВАННЯ В СФЕРІ ПОВОДЖЕННЯ З ВІДХОДАМИ ІЗ ЗАСТОСУВАННЯМ ТЕРМІЧНИХ МЕТОДІВ

Objective. Sanitary and hygienic assessment of the conditions of safe operation of enterprises using equipment for thermal disposal / waste disposal. Materials and methods. The objects of research were enterprises where waste is subjected to thermal disposal/utilization (location of production facilities – Odessa and Dnipropetrovsk regions). To conduct a sanitary and hygienic assessment of the levels of impact created at the border of the sanitary protection zone (SPZ) of production, the results of instrumental studies of air samples, acoustic measurements, and the results of calculating the scattering of gross pollutant emissions from their emission sources were analyzed. form the total gross emission at the industrial site (research protocols were provided by certified laboratories), as well as regulatory and technical documentation, according to which the company operates. Results. The main processes that determine the hazard class of enterprises are thermal, namely: disposal of hazardous waste at the installation for thermal disposal (utilizer) type UT3000D and processing (utilization) of rubber products by pyrolysis at the unit UE GTV MTD-5/24. The utilizer includes a combustion chamber of exhaust gases at a temperature up to 1300˚C and is equipped with a two-stage system for their purification. Shredded rubber-containing waste is pyrolyzed at a temperature of 450°C without access of oxygen with the formation of secondary waste (carbon residue, metal cord residues, gas fraction, which is burned in the main chamber, furnace fuel), which are transferred to consumers on contractual terms. As in the classification of productions [2] such enterprises are absent, SPZ for the enterprise with the utilizer UT3000D is defined in the size of 500 m by analogy with garbage incineration, for the enterprise where pyrolysis is applied - SPZ is established at the size of 110 m (on the border of the nearest inhabited building). According to the results of field research, no exceedances of the normative indicators were detected for any pollutant at the border of the SPZ. Conclusions. The conditions for the operation of enterprises are not exceeding the hygienic regulations of the permissible content of chemicals in the air of settlements [3] and ensuring the regulatory level of acoustic impact at the SPZ in accordance with the requirements [2,4], compliance with technological regulations on waste management, safety rules and use of overalls, footwear and personal protective equipment when working with hazardous waste, as well as determining the hazard class of secondary waste generated in the process of thermal disposal / utilization.

Foreign direct investment and financial markets influences: Results from the United States

This paper investigates the linkages among Foreign Direct Investment (FDI-greenfield and mergers and acquisitions (M&A)) decisions and equity market returns and volatilities. The central premise is that FDI decisions by Multinational Enterprises (MNE) are influenced, among other factors, by risk and uncertainty indicated by equity market returns and volatilities in the destination (host) countries. This is because of the events on the stock markets in general, and their volatilities, in particular, signal the vitality of the investment climate of the target country. Including capital market variables among the determinants of FDI is important for assessing the cost of capital and for evaluating direct investment and asset allocation decisions.Secondary time-series data (quarterly) were used on incoming US FDI from 1994 to 2018 along with data on independent variables such as exchange rates, inflation, market size, equity market returns, and equity market volatilities. Thus, the paper endeavors to contribute to the International Business literature by highlighting the role played of equity returns and volatilities in FDI decisions and therewith attempts to integrate finance (capital markets) with International Business/Strategic Decision making. Several different regression specifications (OLS, Fixed, and random-effects and VAR) were utilized to analyze the data, and capital market variables (stock returns and volatilities) were found to influence the location of production facilities by a multinational enterprise (MNE). In other words, the share of production capacity optimally located abroad, as well as M&A decisions, are influenced by capital market returns and volatilities.

Optimal design of the second and third generation biofuel supply network by a multi-objective model

The depletion of fossil fuels and their serious environmental concerns have made renewable energy sources much more attractive. One of the more promising renewable energy alternatives is the use of second/third-generation biomass that does not endanger food security, to produce bioenergy. The biomass-to-bioenergy supply chain design is a challenging issue that has attracted the attention of academic and industrial research. In this direction, a multi-objective multi-period MILP model is developed to design the second/third-generation biofuel supply chain using anaerobic digestion and transesterification processes. Three types of biomass (i.e. agricultural residues and livestock manure, microalgae and Jatropha) simultaneously are studied as feedstock to produce clean energy in all climatic and geographic conditions, and even in remote areas. Selection of raw material resources, location of production facilities, location of warehouses, and optimal material flows are the main decisions made by the proposed model to minimize the total cost and maximize the produced energy. The performance of this model is evaluated and validated through conducting a real case study. The results show that considering the amount of produced bioenergy regardless to its type, energy production from microalgae and Jatropha is more viable than bio-wastes. The results also show that production cost (especially biodiesel production cost from Jatropha) and investment cost (especially construction costs of microalgae and Jatropha to biodiesel production sites) have the most effect on the total cost of the supply chain network, respectively.

Hydrogen production facility location selection for Black Sea using entropy based TOPSIS under IVPF environment

Parallel with the globally increment in energy demand, governments and responsible authorities’ environmental awareness increases and they have been taking several preventions not to harm environment while energy demand is satisfied. For this purpose decision makers turn their faces to satisfy energy demand via renewable energy sources such as wind, wave, solar, hydro, biomass, hydrogen etc. Before this awareness human was satisfying energy demand via nonrenewable energy sources such as natural gas, coal etc. Even though not being one of these energy sources, hydrogen energy is a primary energy carrying form which is known one of the energy carrier [1]. This study aims to select the most appropriate site in the northern of Turkey for establishing a hydrogen energy hydrogen-sulphide (H2S) decomposition plant. Based on the researches, Black Sea is determined as one of the richest water to get H2S from. Since selecting the facility location for hydrogen energy production plant requires strategical decisions, Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM), as a powerful and efficient tool, is preferred in this study. Accordingly, Entropy and Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) methodologies are integrated and applied under Interval Valued Pythagorean Fuzzy (IVPF) environment to deal with uncertain information better. The developed method is shown to be useful and effective in terms of applicability and ease of usage. As a result, the best suitable location is determined and sensitivity analysis is conducted to analyze the dynamics of the developed methodology.

Diversification strategies and equity market performances

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the linkages among foreign direct investment (FDI – greenfield and mergers and acquisitions [M&A]) decisions and equity market returns and volatilities. The main premise is that FDI decisions by multinational enterprises (MNE) are influenced by risk and uncertainty indicated by equity market returns and volatilities in the destination (host) countries. This is so because the events on the stock markets in general and their volatilities in particular signal the vitality of the investment climate of the target market. Understanding volatility in capital markets is important for determining the cost of capital and for evaluating direct investment and asset allocation decisions.Design/methodology/approachSurveys and structured interviews were conducted with senior managers of 11 MNEs based in the USA to collect the data used in this study from November 2017 to October 2018. The paper investigates if FDI decisions of the MNE managers are influenced by risk and uncertainty indicated by equity market returns and volatilities. The paper endeavors to make a contribution to the IB literature in highlighting the role played by equity returns and volatilities in FDI decisions and therewith attempts to integrate finance (capital markets) with international business/strategic decision-making.FindingsCapital market performances (returns and volatilities) were found to influence the country choice for location of production facilities (FDI – both greenfield and M&A decisions) as well as timing of the FDI by a MNE. In other words, the share of production capacity optimally located abroad and M&A activities are affected by capital market returns and volatilities.

Transport Complex in the Economic Development of the Region: Far East of Russia

The influence of level of the transport infrastructure development on the economic growth of the territory is proved both in the theoretical and practical applied works.The New Economic Geography postulates which fixed the nonlinear connection between the change in transport parameters (transportation costs) and the change in the scale of the economy (dynamics of economy structure, location of production facilities) were one of the latest. The impact of transport on economic development in terms of assessing the permeability of borders is studied in this article. A hypothesis that the presence of a branched transport network that ensures high permeability of borders and openness of the economy for interactions positively influences the economic development of the region is being tested. Internal and external indexes for the Far East of Russia are estimated. Internal index is estimate the permeability of borders between the administrative subjects of the Russian Far East. External index is estimate the permeability of Russian-China border.The permeability of the boundaries is estimated according to: 1) the generally accepted method and 2) the adjusted index proposed by the author. The proposed indicator takes into account a wider range of transport interactions and is calculated using modified weighting factors for individual modes of transport. The classical and adjusted permeability indexes for the Far East are calculated. As a result, one can draw a conclusion about the weak permeability of borders for most administrative subjects of the Far Eastern Federal District. The relatively low transport penetration of the region’s external borders is revealed when interacting with China. The results show a high potential for growth in foreign economic interactions for the Russian Far East (for example, cooperation in the frame of the “One Belt and One Road” Initiative) and the importance of upgrading the system of checkpoints across the state border with China.

Plant design and control in food service industry. A multi-disciplinary decision-support system

Every day, thousands of pupils, students, employees, and hospital patients eat food outside their homes that is cooked far from the place of consumption. The food service industry is responsible for supplying this food to schools, hospitals, nurseries, as well as to company canteens. The design, control, and management of food service operations is challenging given the complexity of such multiple facility production networks and entails multidisciplinary perspectives and competences. Both production and logistics operations play crucial roles and significantly affect the service performance as long as food products are prepared within a facility, and as long as they are distributed to multiple consumption sites. Hence, there are many planning decisions (e.g. the definition of the production facility location, the allocation of task to resources and the scheduling of production jobs), that are handled at different stages by different actors, who often decide based on their own practical experience and barely adopt integrated decision-support systems.A review of the literature shows that there is no integrated approach to support the design of food service production facilities, known as centralized kitchens (CEKIs). To facilitate such integration and assist food service managers to adopt quantitative and data-driven design approaches, this study proposes an original computer-based multidisciplinary decision-support tool for the design and configuration of a CEKI. The proposed tool aids decisions taken by multiple actors simultaneously through a set of interfaces driven by quantitative data that follow the logistical flow of materials throughout the CEKI (1), assesses performance indicators in a multidisciplinary dashboard (2), and implements what-if, multiple scenario analyses based on simulations (3). Graphical interfaces are designed to facilitate communication between the decision makers and the integration of data-driven analyses. The design of a new CEKI is used as a testbed for the decision-support tool. The real-world example highlights the interdependencies between issues and decisions and showcases how computer applications facilitate decision-making and improve communication between managers.

Modeling the Trade-off between Manufacturing Cell Design and Supply Chain Design

Nowadays, we are witnessing the growth of firms that distribute the production capacity of their products to a wide geographic range to supply the demand of several markets. In this article, the relationships and interactions between cell design and supply chain design are investigated. For this purpose, a novel integrated model is presented for designing dynamic cellular manufacturing systems in supply chain design. Different components in the supply chain design, such as location of production facilities at a number of candidate sites, procurement of raw materials from suppliers, shipment of raw materials to production facilities, manufacturing of products, and distribution of products to markets are considered in dynamic environments. The costs concerning these components are minimized. Since the proposed problem is NP-hard, however, a genetic algorithm is presented for application of the model to real-sized instances. Numerical examples demonstrate that the algorithm performs successfully in searching for optimal or near-optimal solutions.

Location, pricing and the problem of Apollonius

In Euclidean plane geometry, Apollonius’ problem is to construct a circle in a plane that is tangent to three given circles. We will use a solution to this ancient problem to solve several versions of the following geometric optimization problem. Given is a set of customers located in the plane, each having a demand for a product and a budget. A customer is satisfied if her total, travel and purchase, costs do not exceed the budget. The task is to determine location of production facilities in the plane and one price for the product such that the revenue generated from the satisfied customers is maximized.

Uniqueness of market equilibrium on a network: A peak-load pricing approach

In this paper we establish conditions under which uniqueness of market equilibrium is obtained in a setup where prior to trading of electricity, transmission capacities between different market regions are fixed. In our setup, firms facing fluctuating demand decide on the size and location of production facilities. They make production decisions constrained by the invested capacities, taking into account that market prices (partially) reflect scarce transmission capacities between the different market zones. For this type of peak-load pricing model on a network we state general conditions for existence and uniqueness of the market equilibrium and provide a characterization of equilibrium investment and production. The presented analysis covers the cases of perfect competition and monopoly—the case of strategic firms is approximated by a conjectural variations approach. Our result is a prerequisite for analyzing regulatory policy options with computational multilevel equilibrium models, since uniqueness of the equilibrium at lower levels is of key importance when solving these models. Thus, our paper contributes to an evolving strand of literature that analyzes regulatory policy based on computational multilevel equilibrium models and aims at taking into account individual objectives of various agents, among them not only generators and customers but also, e.g., the regulator deciding on network expansion.

Sensitivity analysis of Life Cycle Assessment to select reinforced concrete structures with one-way slabs

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tools are often applied to the production stage of structural projects. This study aims to determine the sensitivity of the real environmental impact according to aspects related to decisions made during the execution stage. This stage includes factors that are beyond the control of the planner or designer: control over production (hourly yield, waste management), location of production facilities (transport of components to building location). The present study analyzes and evaluates three variables: distance travelled for component transport, working hours, and materials wasted during the production and construction process. Limit values are established according to six possible scenarios. Based on the results, it can be concluded that hourly yield had a minimal effect on the generated environmental impact. Transport and material waste, on the other hand, are the factors that brought about the greatest variations in environmental impact. For example, the components that are most sensitive to transport can decrease environmental impact by 65.66% or increase it by 18.24% depending on project location. And when considering material wasted during production and construction, the environmental impact varied from −9.77% to 9.78%.

Location of Production Facilities in the Framework of Sustainable Development

Sustainable development is a necessity, solutions for satisfying users’ needs having to be adopted in relation to criteria that often integrate divergent interests of those involved. The optimal location of production centers has the best effect on production costs. The paper focuses on industrial location from the user's point of view, taking into account elements like maximum distance for efficient road transportation, resources proximity and available infrastructure. The developed model has a large scale of applicability in economic sectors like: distribution, automotive industry, constructions. Results of applying this model proved its utility and necessity of further researches on location problems.

Integrating Modified Delphi with Fuzzy AHP for Concrete Production Facility Location Selection

Evaluation and selection of concrete production facility location is an important strategic decision making problem for both public and private sector. The multi-dimensional, multi-criteria nature of the concrete production facility location problem limits the usefulness of any particular single objective model. In this study, social, economical, technological, environmental and transportation factors and sub criteria, have been derived to make the optimal concrete production facility location selection decision more realistic and effectual. In this paper, an improved and more appropriate concrete production facility location evaluation and selection model has been developed by integrating Modified Delphi Method (MDM) with Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP). A numerical example is presented to show applicability and performance of the proposed methodology followed by a sensitivity analysis to discuss and explain the results.