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Non-destructive testing (NDT) methods are typically utilized to thoroughly inspect existing defects in the concrete bridge deck and tackle the limitations of common inspection practices (e.g. visua...

The mining industry plays an important role in the economic development of Malaysia. However, uncontrolled mining activities have caused serious environmental impacts. Recently, bauxite mining in Kuantan, in the state of Pahang, stained fifteen kilometers of Pahang’s coastline with red arsenic particles and heavy metal pollution washed from open-pit bauxite mines into the nearby sea. This has caused potentially catastrophic damages to the ecosystem off the coast of Pahang. This triggered the Government of Malaysia to issue a temporary ban on bauxite mining while the state government engaged in expensive clean-up. Mining activities require an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). Environmental decisions are complex and multidisciplinary including knowledge bases which incorporate natural, physical, and social sciences, politics, and ethics. This research proposes a decision support framework that uses the Analytic Network Process (ANP) to help decision makers in EIA pertaining to the bauxite mining industry.

Validation is one of the most important stages of modeling, and it is a necessity before utilizing the model for further analyses. Especially for the studies that start with conceptual models, the validation process is more complex than others. In this study, we used a multi-methodology approach to develop a framework to support the conceptual model development and validation in System Dynamics (SD) modeling. In the proposed framework, we integrated methods from SD methodology with methods from the Analytic Network Process (ANP). The proposed framework was then used for clinical laboratory performance analysis. The purpose was to use the proposed framework to conduct structural validity of the SD model, to prioritize Clinical Laboratory (CL) performance indicators, and capture their relations. Results indicate that the proposed framework can be used to generate an enriched and validated conceptual model for a CL performance system that can be useful for healthcare decision-makers. Also, the proposed multi-methodology framework can be applied to any complex systems to validate the conceptual models., Geçerlilik, modellemenin en önemli aşamalarından biridir ve her model için gereklidir. Bu süreç, özellikle kavramsal modeller ile başlanılan çalışmalarda diğerlerine nazaran daha karmaşıktır. Kavramsal model geliştirmenin sistem dinamiği (SD) modellerinin doğrulanması ve geçerlilik analizlerinin sonuçları üzerinde büyük etkisi olduğu öne sürülmektedir. Bu çalışmada, SD modellemesinde kavramsal model geliştirme ve geçerlilik sürecini destekleyen bir çerçeve geliştirmek için çoklu metodoloji yaklaşımı kullanılmıştır. Önerilen çerçevede, SD metodolojisindeki yöntemler Analitik Ağ Süreci (ANP) yöntemleriyle entegre edilmiştir. Önerilen çerçeve daha sonra klinik laboratuvarda performans analizi için kurulacak bir SD modelinin onaylanması için kullanılmıştır. Amacımız, SD modelinin yapısal geçerliliğini gerçekleştirmek, klinik laboratuvar performans göstergelerinin hangilerine önceliklendirmek ve bunların ilişkilerini yakalamak için önerilen çerçeveyi kullanmaktır. Sonuçlar, önerilen çerçevenin, sağlık hizmeti karar vericileri için yararlı olabilecek bir klinik laboratuvar performans sistemi için zenginleştirilmiş ve doğrulanmış bir kavramsal model oluşturmak için kullanılabileceğini göstermektedir. Ayrıca, önerilen çoklu metodoloji çerçevesi, kavramsal modellerin doğrulama ve onaylanması için başka sistemlere de uygulanabilir.

Energy planning involves a perpetual process of reevaluating alternative energy strategies. Authorities responsible for energy planning and management have to adjust their strategies according to new and improved alternative solutions based on the sustainability criteria. In this study, we propose an integrated hybrid methodology for the analysis of Turkey’s energy sector using Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis, Analytic Network Process (ANP) process, and weighted fuzzy Technique for Order Performance by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) to formulate and holistically analyze the energy strategy alternatives and priorities. The methodology proposed in this study allowed identifying the relevant criteria and sub-criteria using a SWOT analysis. Then, ANP approach, which is one of the popular multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) methods, is employed to determine the weights of each SWOT factors and sub-factors. Finally, fuzzy TOPSIS methodology is conducted to prioritize alternative energy strategies. We discuss the obtained results for the development of long-range alternative energy strategies. The results showed that turning the country into an energy hub and an energy terminal by effectively using the geo-strategic position within the framework of the regional cooperation is the most important priority. On the other hand, using the nuclear energy technologies within the energy supply strategies found to be the least favored priority.

We introduce a framework called the Analytic Processes Maturity Model (APMM) for evaluating the analytic maturity of an organization. The APMM identifies analytic-related processes in six key process areas: i) building analytic models; ii) deploying analytic models; iii) managing and operating analytic infrastructure; iv) protecting analytic assets through appropriate policies and procedures; v) operating an analytic governance structure; and vi) identifying analytic opportunities, making decisions, and allocating resources based upon an analytic strategy. Based upon the maturity of these processes, the APMM divides organizations into five maturity levels: 1) organizations that can build reports; 2) organizations that can build and deploy models; 3) organizations that have repeatable processes for building and deploying analytics; 4) organizations that have consistent enterprise-wide processes for analytics; and 5) enterprises whose analytics is strategy driven. The APMM is broadly based upon the Capability Maturity Model that is the basis for measuring the maturity of processes for developing software.

Analysis and evaluation of risks in tunnel construction is commonly performed using various scales; however, such scales have serious limitations. In this paper, an improved scale based on a fuzzy analytic network process is proposed. An exponential scale is introduced to assess the risks, and a method is proposed to determine the importance parameter for the exponential scale. Through the combination of the exponential scale and the triangular fuzzy number, a fuzzy exponential scale is proposed and is utilized to construct pairwise judgment matrices. The improved fuzzy analytic network process is used to establish a general method for risk analysis in tunnel engineering, which is applied to the risk analysis of the Humaling tunnel. The results from the proposed method more accurately reflect the actual situation than those of the analytic network process using the 1–9 scale.

Combined cooling, heating, and power (CCHP) systems have been recognized as a promising technology for energy efficiency improvement and emissions mitigation. This study aims at developing a multi-criteria sustainability assessment method to prioritize the alternative CCHP systems under uncertainties. An interval analytic network process (ANP) that can address the vagueness, ambiguity, and subjectivity existing in human judgments and consider the interdependences and interactions among the evaluation criteria was used to determine the weights of the criteria for sustainability assessment, and an interval analytic hierarchy process (AHP) which is a structured technique for organizing and analyzing complex decisions was also employed to quantify the relative performances of the alternative CCHP systems with respect to the soft criteria. An interval technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) was employed to rank the alternative CCHP systems according to their sustainability. An illustrative case including five CCHP systems has been studied using the proposed method. A solid electrolyte fuel cell (SOFC) combined with a waste heat afterburning absorption refrigerator was recognized as the most sustainable scenario. In addition, the results have been further investigated through sensitivity analysis and validated by the weighted sum method.

Purpose Schedule and cost overrun analysis for a typical research & development (R&D) project is necessary to identify and mitigate the non-feasible alternatives at the design stage. Typically, this should include an analysis of technological and economic factors of R&D project. This paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach This research proposes an integrated analytic network process (ANP) and reusable system dynamics (SD) model for a quick and strategically consistent decision making. The technological and economic factors of R&D project were first identified and compiled through a systematic literature review. An ANP model was first developed for calculating Risk Priority Index (RPI) for set of technological and economic factors. The computed RPI are considered as an input to SD models. Two SD models (technological and economic) are developed to undertake a detailed investigation on effect of individual factor on schedule and cost overrun. The approach is exemplified for a case of government R&D project in India. Findings ANP identifies “Testing & qualification facility” and “Raw material availability” as the highest RPI factors. A detailed sensitivity analysis of SD models suggests that technological factors such as “Design Changes,” “Hidden Activities,” and “Lack of Expertise” and economic factors such as “Project delays,” “Unexpected incidents” and “Conflicts” have the highest influence on schedule and cost overrun. Practical implications The outcomes of this research can help managers to estimate the severity of various technological and economic factors on cost and schedule overrun and develop an adequate risk mitigation contingency plan. Originality/value In case of R&D projects where systems are being developed for the first time, changes are inevitable, and hence schedule and cost management plays a very important role in its success. This paper proposes an integrated reusable approach of ANP and SD for analyzing the influence of technological and economic factors on schedule and cost overrun of R&D project.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to create and present a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design New Construction (LEED NC) building performance assessment model that will identify and prioritize external parameters affecting a LEED-certified building’s operational performance. Design/methodology/approach The uncertainty associated with external parameters affecting a LEED-certified building’s operational performance is examined through the use of analytic network process (ANP). An ANP model is created based on the extensive literature research and experiences of professionals in the green building industry. Eight case studies are analyzed, and data collected through interviews with experts are utilized in prioritizing external parameters affecting buildings’ operational performance. Findings The findings show that the most important external parameters affecting a LEED-certified building’s operational performance are lack of enhanced commissioning, lack of life cycle assessment/life cycle costing analysis, lack of energy modeling, and lack of knowledge in green technology. The results demonstrate that both asset value and profit, as well as the economic life of the facility, are mostly affected by the energy efficiency of the building, and consequently LEED NC energy and atmosphere category. Originality/value This research contributes to the body of knowledge on green architecture by defining and prioritizing external parameters and their relationships to operational building performance in LEED NC projects. The proposed model can be used by construction managers and facility managers to operate LEED-certified buildings better and reduce environmental impacts throughout the functional life cycle of the building.

For a sustainable urban expressway development, it is necessary to conduct an EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) study. Expressway development and operation should, therefore, be planned with careful consideration of the environmental impacts. An assessment of an expressway project may include consideration of different routes as distinct alternatives. Thus, evaluating alternatives is an important step of environmental impact assessment. In this paper, some MCDM (Multi Criteria Decision Making) models, were used for assessing alternatives in EIA in earlier studies, reviewed and a hybrid MCDM model proposed to tackle the dependency relations of evaluation criteria with aid of the fuzzy DEMATEL (decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory) method. In next step, the fuzzy DEMATEL method combined with ANP (Analytic Network Process) method to weighting criteria for assessment of alternatives with aid of the fuzzy VIKOR (VIseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje) method. Empirical study results illustrate the proposed model is a workable and reliable tool for evaluating alternatives of environmental impact assessment of urban expressway in order to make results much closer to reality.

Nowadays, the growth of energy consumption in buildings is an important topic. Rammed earth (RE) structures have attracted the attention of engineers and contractors in recent years due to their advantages such as sustainability, availability and low embodied energy content. These advantages result in less energy consumption in the life cycle of the RE structures. However, there is a lack of research on the mixture composition of RE materials containing admixtures. This research introduced integrated analytic network process (ANP) and genetic algorithm (GA) methodology to select the optimum mixture of RE material containing cement, expanded polystyrene(EPS), and phase change materials(PCM) with different moisture content. The five criteria for evaluations were cost, building weight, carbon footprint, mechanical strength and thermal performance. Thermal and mechanical experiments were performed on the different mixtures of RE. Based on the results of the ANP-GA approach, a RE mixture with mass ratios of 78% soil, 12% moisture, and 10% cement was found to be the most suitable RE mixture. ANP-GA eliminated EPS and PCM due to the low strength of EPS-RE and the high cost of PCM; however, they made RE perform well in thermal characteristic. This proposed the model can be used to select the ideal mixture of other engineering materials.

This paper proposes a new electrical discharge machining (EDM) process evaluation method, which is a combination of decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) and analytic network process (ANP). The green manufacturing theory is integrated with the traditional EDM evaluation system to establish a new comprehensive evaluation system based on five perspectives of green manufacturing theory. This method offers a new approach for EDM process evaluation and the promotion of environment and economic aspects. An exact numerical example is given to demonstrate the validity and effectiveness of the proposed method.

Mainly influenced by the security assessment guidelines issued by, for example, the American Petroleum Institute (API, 2003), most of the methodologies developed for security risk assessment in hazardous industries have been based on the scoring of security risk parameters sequentially and largely independently of each other. The parameters’ individual scores identified in such way are usually combined via linear relationships – additive or multiplicative – to calculate the final security risk score of a facility. As a result of such hierarchical scoring and linearization, the interactions among the security risk parameters, for example, the mutual influence between the type of threat and the target assets will be disregarded. This, in turn, could undermine the results of security risk analysis and subsequent rank ordering of units. In the present study, we have investigated the applicability of analytic network process (ANP) to security-based rank ordering of hazardous facilities such as chemical plants. While different techniques can be used to score individual risk parameters, ANP will enable considering mutual interactions, modifying the linearity of current security risk assessment methodologies.

The reasonable evaluation of the enterprise energy efficiency is an important work in order to reduce the energy consumption. In this paper, an effective energy efficiency evaluation index system is proposed based on DPSR (Driving forces-Pressure-State-Response) with the consideration of the actual situation of enterprises. This index system which covers multi-dimensional indexes of the enterprise energy efficiency can reveal the complete causal chain which includes the "driver forces" and "pressure" of the enterprise energy efficiency "state" caused by the internal and external environment, and the ultimate enterprise energy-saving "response" measures. Furthermore, the ANP (Analytic Network Process) and cloud model are used to calculate the weight of each index and evaluate the energy efficiency level. The analysis of BL Company verifies the feasibility of this index system and also provides an effective way to improve the energy efficiency at last.

The Ergonomic Checkpoints of International Labour Organization provide simple and low cost solutions to improve work conditions. Since it is a useful guide to improve the workplace, it can be a powerful tool for detecting and estimating work-related risk factors by considering the risk score for each item. This study presents an approach to prioritize and score the measures of the Checkpoints using Analytic Network Process (ANP) and Fuzzy Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) methods. These methods have been accomplished in partnership with ergonomics experts. They compared the risk factors of the solutions with respect to five ergonomic criteria which are determined by themselves. Also a model has been developed to score the measures for each workplace. An empirical study was done in an assembly and packaging industry to illustrate an example of using the weighted Checkpoints. The findings of the empirical study indicated that the weighted Ergonomic Checkpoints manual is able to estimate the approximate risk of workplaces and detect the riskier situations.

This paper adopts a fuzzy analytic network process approach in identifying the impact of the presence of firm size on the content of the manufacturing strategy infrastructural decisions that integrates the classical manufacturing strategy framework and the notion of sustainability. Linguistic variables with equivalent triangular fuzzy numbers were used to elucidate judgment of elements in pairwise comparison matrices within the context of the analytic network process. Analytic network process effectively handles the complexity of the decision-making problem resulting from the subjectivity and interrelationships inherent among decision components. Domain experts in manufacturing strategy and sustainability were asked to elicit judgment in pairwise comparisons. Results show that the content of the infrastructural decisions of manufacturing strategy remains constant regardless of the presences of firm size component. However, the priority of each decision to the goal which can be translated as the priority of implementation of each policy varies with the presence of firm size.

Today, enterprises might implement different supply chain strategies for different products in order to survive and to increase their market shares. The use of alternative supply chain strategies requires different decoupling points. But positioning this point for leagile strategies is not as easy as in lean and agile supply chains. The purpose of this study is to calculate the weights of criteria effective in determining the position of a decoupling point for the leagile strategy of a furniture components manufacturing firm. For that purpose a two-stage decision making method was used. In the first stage, Fuzzy Dematel method was used to determine the interactions and causal relationships between criteria and to identify the causal diagram. In the second stage, weights of criteria were calculated by Dematel based Analytic Network Process method. The findings revealed that the most important criterion was backorder cost.Keywords: leagile supply chain; decoupling point; Dematel based analytic network process; Dematel; ANP; supply chain strategy

The establishment of eco-industrial parks (EIPs) is an effective approach to developing industrial symbiosis in which plants of different entities could reduce waste production through co-sharing common utilities and/or resources, thus minimizing environmental impacts. Common resources such as heat and water are often the precursor of forming the symbiotic resource exchange network in an EIP. However, synthesizing the resource network in an EIP is a complex decision-making process involving the optimization of various design criteria by a group of decision-makers with different interests. Hence, this paper presents a multi-objective optimization approach that uses numerical representation to rank the preferences of each participating plant on the predefined criteria for building an EIP. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is a well-established decision-making technique for the analysis of complex decision problems. With its mathematical simplicity and flexibility, AHP can be integrated with different optimization techniques, such as mathematical programming. In this work, we develop an integrated AHP (IAHP) approach to the formation of an optimum resource network in an EIP. The optimization model is formulated to obtain a balanced solution that achieves the optimum design criteria defined by a given set of constraints. The design criteria considered in this work include economic performance, environmental impact, connectivity and network reliability. A case study on the synthesis of a chilled and cooling water network is used to illustrate the proposed methodology.

An efficient management system and leadership body is one of the key requirements for a road safety improvement program. In low- and middle-income countries, the organizational structure of the management system may suffer from deficiencies weakening the institutional functions across key road safety players. Hence, it is necessary to form an inner- and inter-organization evaluation framework encompassing all the processes, events, dependencies, and causation among road safety players. In this paper, a (three-stage) system thinking approach is developed to evaluate the behavior of inter-organizational complex system and to determine major deficiencies in the role of the road safety lead agency. The first stages of the system thinking approach starts with drawing diagrams (i.e. multiple-effect and multiple-criteria trees) that allows identifying the chains of reasoning behind events or consequences. The next stage of the system thinking approach embodies the analytic network process (ANP), an advanced multi-criteria decision-making technique, which handles the lead agency capacity evaluation and helps to determine how and by what magnitude any of the players can affect the national road safety. The proposed method applies to the case of Iran, a middle-income developing country in the Middle East. Since in Iran, the Road Safety Commission (RSC) has been established as the lead agency, it was expected that RSC owns the greatest influence on the status of road safety. However, our results show that the overall influence of RSC on road safety is far less than what was expected. Subsequently, a supplementary procedure is proposed to specify institutional reforms in order to avoid such organizational inefficiencies. Keywords: Road safety strategies, Inter-organizational relationships, Multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM), Analytic network process (ANP), System thinking, Developing countries

Microfinance as an effective tool provides financial service for those who do not have the accessor could not be accessed by a commercial bank or other financial institution. The Growth of Baitul Maal watamwil (BMT) as one of the Islamic financial institution is very fast and massive. There are many challengesand obstacles that inhibit the growth of it, either from internal or external of BMT. The purpose of this studyis to identify the issues faced by the urban of BMT (Bogor City), used Analytic Network Process (ANP). Thestudy also attempt to provide solution of the BMT problem faced. The result of this study showed that theproblem of internal Issues was more dominant than External Issues, with the priority level of 54%. Based onthe Internal Problems aspect, the dominant issue was the problem of “Low Quality and understanding ofHuman Resource”. Meanwhile an aspect of the external problem is “the strictness of Business Competition”.Furthermore, the solution could be implemented are 1) Training for Human Recourse 2) BMT Mentoring bythe relevant government.

Low profit margins, high costs in R&D, light-weighted, customer-oriented, and compressed time from development to market are the recent trends for the products in the machine tools industry. There is no single approach that can tackle these issues at the same time. In this research, we apply decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory-based analytic network process (DANP) and the theory of solving inventive problems (TRIZ) to the innovative design of machine tools so as to deal with the issues of high cost and compressed time from development to market simultaneously. In our proposed methods, the DANP is employed as a decision support tool that can adequately provide qualitative and subjective assessments under the multiple criteria decision-making environment, and the TRIZ can provide several techniques to facilitate problem-solving. Results show that after applying our suggested methods, the cost is reduced, the profit is greatly increased, and the average time from development to market is ...

6th Creative Construction Conference (CCC) -- JUN 19-22, 2017 -- Primosten, CROATIA, WOS: 000418465300038, Supply chain management (SCM) is a sophisticated concept which contains all material-related activities of construction projects. In the last decade, construction supply chain management (CSCM) has become a new challenge for construction managers in order to procure right quantities of materials to construction site on time, and within the pre-defined budget. Supplier selection as a significant process in SCM is a multi-criteria decision making problem. There is a broad literature on supplier selection that examines selection of supplier evaluation criteria and multi-criteria decision making methods. Individual and integrated multi-criteria decision approaches are studied by many researchers. In this paper, supplier selection analysis for wall, cladding and roofing construction materials are researched. Whilst literature review and expert panel are employed in order to identify criteria, weights of each criterion are determined by an extensive questionnaire survey. Participants are selected from the experts in construction industry, universities and governmental institutions. Analytic Network Process (ANP) is utilized as multicriteria decision making methodology and weights of criteria are obtained. This study is a section of an on-going doctoral research, in other words, a part of a more comprehensive model. The study is significant due to the development of a new approach on construction material supplier selection and the basis of the model that is able to provide decision support for construction project participants throughout the project life cycle., Commission of Scientific Research Projects in Anadolu University Project Support Department [1505F517], This study is supported by Commission of Scientific Research Projects in Anadolu University Project Support Department with the project number of 1505F517.

A hybrid MCDM model is proposed in this study for improving FMEA.The uncertainty and vagueness of assessment information are handled by IVIFSs.Risk factor weights are calculated by using the IVIF-ANP method.Failure modes are ranked by using the IVIF-COPRAS method.The proposed FMEA can obtain a more accurate risk priority of failure modes. Failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) is a prospective risk assessment technique broadly used in various industries for enhancing the safety and reliability of systems, products, processes and services. Nonetheless, when the traditional FMEA is applied in actual situations, it exposes some important insufficiencies, especially in the evaluation of failure modes, the weighting of risk factors, and the ranking of failure modes. Therefore, in this paper, a new FMEA model which integrates COmplex PRoportional ASsessment (COPRAS) and analytic network process (ANP) method is proposed to assess and rank the risk of failure modes under interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy context. The proposed risk priority approach combines the advantages of interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy sets (IVIFSs) in coping with uncertainty, vagueness and incompleteness, and the merits of COPRAS and ANP in solving multi-criteria decision making problems. Finally, a practical case in hospital service setting is presented to illustrate the accuracy, effectiveness and flexibility of the proposed model.

AHP and the Kano model are such prevalent TQM tools that it may be surprising that a true hybrid decision-making model has so far eluded researchers. The quest for a hybrid approach is complicated by the differing output perspective of each model, namely discrete ranking (AHP) versus a multi-dimensional picture (Kano). This paper presents a hybrid model of AHP and Kano model, so called two-dimension AHP (2D-AHP).This paper first compares the two approaches and justifies a hybrid model based on a simple conceit drawn from the Kano perspective: given a decision hierarchy, child and parent elements can exhibit multi-dimension relationships under different circumstances. Based on this premise, the authors construct a hybrid two-dimension AHP model whereby a functional-dysfunctional question-pair technique is incorporated into a traditional AHP framework.Using the proposed hybrid model, this paper provides a practical test case of its implementation. The 2D-AHP approach revealed important evaluation variances obscured through AHP, while a survey study confirmed that the 2D-AHP approach is both feasible and preferred in some respects by respondents.Although there have been rich research efforts to combine AHP and Kano model, most of them is simply about a series of individual usage of each methodology. On the other hand, the type of hybridization between AHP and Kano model in this paper is quite unique in terms of the two dimensional perspective. The model provides a general approach with application possibilities far beyond the scope of the test case and its problem structure, and so calls for application and validation in new cases.

Indirect processes are increasingly contributing to the total cost of production in highly competitive and technology-intensive industries. Unfortunately, they are less assessable than direct processes due to the complex organisational management structure. Therefore, companies seeking to make improvements in indirect areas need decision support methods to indicate which indirect process needs to be improved and to what extent. To facilitate this task, the target setting for indirect processes (TSIP) method has been developed following the constructive research approach. TSIP is a combination of process modelling, the analytic network process, activity-based management from managerial accounting research and the value control chart from target costing research in a kaizen budgeting framework. This new hybrid method is developed and validated in cooperation with a global first-tier automotive supplier.

The current manufacturing environment has changed from traditional single-plant to multi-site supply chain where multiple plants are serving customer demands. In this article, a tactical multi-objective, multi-period, multi-product, multi-site supply-chain planning problem is proposed. A corresponding optimization model aiming to simultaneously minimize the total cost, maximize product quality and maximize the customer satisfaction demand level is developed. The proposed solution approach yields to a front of Pareto-optimal solutions that represents the trade-offs among the different objectives. Subsequently, the analytic hierarchy process method is applied to select the best Pareto-optimal solution according to the preferences of the decision maker. The robustness of the solutions and the proposed approach are discussed based on a sensitivity analysis and an application to a real case from the textile and apparel industry.

Supplier is one the most important and inflluence thing in suplly chain of a companyexistency. Supplier selection has a big role in decision making for getting supplier inimprovement of company’s competitive. Tarutama Nusantara Agrobusiness Cooperative (KopaTTN) is one of the Indonesian company exporting tobacco leaves of Na-Oogst Besuki toEuropean countries. Kopa TTN has Madani Agro Sejahtera (MAS) as a branch company thatfocuse on tobacco Na-Oogst trading. For this reason, MAS should be always increasing itscompetitive by supplier selection. The aim of this research were to get criteria and sub-criteriathat mostly concerned in supplier selection of tobacco leaves and also to get the prior oftobacco leaves supplier by using Analytic Network Process (ANP) methode.. Result showed thatthe prior sub-criteria was physical appearance of material quality criteria.Abdul Wahabmemiliki prioritas tertinggi di antara pemasok lainnya dengan nilai 0,059782; kemudianberturut-turut prioritas tertinggi hingga terendah adalah H. Busyono dengan nilai 0,045026,Henu dengan nilai 0,044384, Miseri dengan nilai 0,034880, Topik dengan nilai 0,010456 danterakhir adalah H. Aminullah dengan nilai 0,003231.

Renewable energy sources are important alternatives that should be considered in forming energy portfolio of countries. Countries need to carefully plan and select the most appropriate energy sources to be able to sustain their social and economic development. This study presents a grey based multi-criteria decision model for the evaluation of renewable energy sources which integrates three multi-criteria decision making methods that are Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory, Analytic Network Process and multi-criteria optimization and compromise solution (Serbian name: VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje) methods. Grey Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory method is used to for revealing the relations among the evaluation criteria. The result of the grey Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory is then used for constructing the network structure of the Analytic Network Process. The importance or weights of the evaluation criteria are calculated with grey Analytic Network Process based on the experts' assessments. Finally, evaluation and ranking of the renewable energy sources are performed by using the proposed grey multi-criteria optimization and compromise solution method. The effectiveness and the applicability of the developed approach are presented with a case study.

Recent high penetration of renewable energy powered distributed generation (RE-DG) is imposing new challenges to the anti-islanding protection. A survey on the existing islanding-detection techniques (IDTs) reveals that a wide variety of IDTs are available. Thus, it is an anxiety to decide which kind of islanding-detection method is suitable for a particular RE-DG application. Therefore, it is of great significance to select an appropriate IDT depending on the application and criteria preference of the end-users. There can be mutual correlation among the different criteria of anti-islanding selection. In this research, a decision-making technique, the analytic network process, is adopted to select an appropriate IDT for a particular RE-DG application by analysing operational characteristics of different IDTs. Unlike hierarchy-based approach, the technique considers the interrelationships amongst the attributes of anti-islanding selection in order to provide the best selection. Finally, the sensitivity analysis is performed to check the robustness of the selection procedure.

Industrial towns, as major bases of small and medium production centers, have played a major role in the industrial development of several countries. These towns have paved a way for the prosperity of economic plans and have been able to meet up with the production perspectives of investors, thereby providing the necessary fundamental services. In this regard, paying attention to proper management of waste production is quite important both in the preservation of the environment from industrial pollution and reduction of probable risks threatening the employees of industrial units located in the towns. Therefore, the present research determined the stream of the industrial waste production in Shamsabad Industrial Town, by designing four appropriate disposal scenarios according to the quality of the produced wastes, and assesses them technically, economically and environmentally using two methods of analysis: analytic hierarchical process and analytic network process. The fourth scenario, which consisted of landfilling, incineration and recycling, was ultimately selected as the best disposal scenario. Indeed, the main objective of current paper is to develop a model which could be implemented in other industrial towns, to proper management of generated wastes.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to introduce a solution to the problem of changing priorities of customer needs (CNs) in quality function deployment (QFD). Customer preferences and priorities are not very stable and they may change before products are ready for the market. Therefore, finding CNs accurately is a key to reach a higher level of customer satisfaction through improving products. Design/methodology/approachIn the proposed model, a Markov chain is employed to model the changing priorities of CNs. The Markov chain finds a pattern of future CNs, the main inputs of QFD. The QFD method is applied to translate CNs into product requirements (PRs). The analytic network process (ANP) is attached to QFD to ensure that all the relations among the elements, inner and outer, are taken into consideration during the translation process. Thus, CNs are received and adjusted by a Markov chain. FindingsThe application of Markov chains for an ANP-QFD model develops an adequate method of finding a pattern of changing priorities of CNs. This pattern enables the ANP-QFD method to work independent of the initial CNs, and originates a Markovain ANP-QFD. Originality/valueThis study originates a stochastic ANP-QFD model. There have been several papers employing various tools and techniques such as the ANP or analytic hierarchy process for QFD to find accurate relations between PRs and CNs. While there are a few papers applying Markov chains to predict the future of the relations of QFD, there is no study which traces the changes in priorities of the CNs during the improvement process. This is addressed by applying a Markovian ANP-QFD. The model is validated through a case study.

To which extent do potential users of construction products take sustainability into account during their decision-making process? How well could they align themselves in all the legislation frameworks and calculation tools for the sustainable construction products? In accordance with the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) [1] , determining of ecological properties of construction products could be accomplished with applying life cycle assessment (LCA). There is a number of tools and frameworks for evaluating the sustainability of construction products for the European experts, which may be used in such a decision-making process. However, for a non-expert user, this could be quite complex. Therefor, the assumption here is that environmental and human health safety are prior in contrast to the market prices when it comes to choosing a decorative paint or coating. In the framework of herein research, an Analytic Hierarchy/Network Process model was designed involving four major merits of the Analytic Hierarchy Process: Benefits, Opportunities, Costs, and Risks [2] . The model which is based on the major characteristics of a decorative wall paint helps emphasising the best alternative with respect to given priorities: low risk of environmental and human health damage, quality, market price, repairability. The model shows values for all the criteria and alternatives with respect to pairwise comparisons. In a future research step, this model will be validated with a questionnaire survey targeting non-expert users, i.e. average consumers, on the construction market in Germany.

Failure mode and effects analysis has been extensively used as a powerful method in a wide range of industries, but many scholars questioned the risk priority number method and proposed some new methods to improve. However, these methods still only evaluated from risks viewpoint while ignoring the effectiveness of corrective actions from utility viewpoint. In practical, it may not reach significant corrective effectiveness because of the corrective efficiency if corrective action is ignored. In addition, corrective actions may be treated as a complex system; they may not be simple and have an independent relationship with each other; the interdependence relationship; and the sequence or structure of hierarchy; even feedback relationship may exist. This study develops a fuzzy interpretive structural model in order to evaluate the structure of hierarchy and interdependence of corrective actions, and integrating the analytic network process with decision-making and trial evaluation laboratory to take account into the causal relationship and influence strength of corrective actions to obtain the more accuracy weights. At last, a case study implemented to demonstrate that the proposed approach effectively circumvents the drawbacks of traditional risk priority number method and adapts flexibly to real-world situations. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A typical coast guard has complex responsibilities, subject to its multiple missions in maritime jurisdiction regions. These maritime jurisdiction regions can be partitioned into responsibility areas, and each type of coast guard vessel has a set of attributes for each responsibility area. The distribution of coast guard assets deployed in their respective areas of responsibility should be linked to the types of events occurring in these areas. The objective of this study is to determine the appropriate distribution of coast guard assets in various maritime zones; we do this by evaluating models that assign coast guard surface vessel types to missions in these maritime zones. We use the analytic network process model to compare various vessel types and determine the task-type weights for each vessel type. Weighted goal programming allows us to combine data, including the weights we derive from the use of other decision-aid tools. Our objective is to determine the best compromise solution for distributing coast guard assets into four main responsibility zones. The Turkish Coast Guard implemented the model in 2014, and decided to use it once a year prior to executing the main process in which it allocates coast guard assets.

We used ANP and two-dimensional matrix as the analysis.It discusses the usage situation and effect of design strategy.It also proposes improvement directions for design strategies.The method is applied to the improvement of design strategy. With the intense competition of global market and the rapid technological advancement, the new product development becomes increasingly complicated, and relatively, designers face massive information that requires further integration. Design managers need an effective mechanism to understand the influence of design strategy application. Therefore, this study aims to use Analytic Network Process (ANP) and a two-dimensional matrix as the analysis tools, and discusses the usage situation and effect of design strategy, according to conformance quality and design quality. It also proposes improvement directions for design strategies. Based on the ANP results show that the order of top three items in design strategy are strengthening of market information collection and response capability (0.139), improvement of product quality level (0.135), and easy fabrication and maintenance (0.112). In addition, the ANP and the two-dimensional matrix model verified the use effect and improvement direction of design strategy. The ten design strategies can be classified into matured strategy, longitudinal improvement strategy, lateral improvement strategy, and two-way improvement strategy. The findings of this study can be provided to managers for reference in design strategy improvement.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop a model of analytic hierarchy process (AHP), a multiple criteria decision-making method, to assist selecting suitable machine configurations for special purpose machines (SPMs) from available alternatives. Design/methodology/approach The necessary criteria and sub-criteria were identified and used in the developed model. The assessment process was carried out by constructing the hierarchy of four levels. Then, pairwise comparison matrices were created for each level to compute the weights for the alternatives. The model was programmed and implemented by software for practical use. Findings Different scenarios were obtained from the assessment process of the developed AHP model showing the influence of changing the relevant importance of the elements in the hierarchy on the selection of SPMs configurations. Selection of the suitable scenario was also affected by some factors of manufacturing preferences and industry recommendations such as cost and production rate. Originality/value This is a new application of AHP method which assists decision makers to select suitable configurations for SPMs, and reduce the time required for designing SPMs.

In Taiwan, even though the highway agencies have been making effort to improve the overall serviceability of the road system, more often than not, road users were not satisfied with the performance of the maintenance and rehabilitation (M&R) activities. This paper focuses on the performance of M&R activities in Taiwan from the road users’ perspective. Surveys were conducted to collect the users’ perception (serving as the performance) of the M&R activities. The Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) and Analytic Network Process (ANP) are jointly used to quantify the performance of M&R activities. DEMATEL is employed to understand the influence among the criteria/elements, and ANP is used to determine the relative weights of the elements. It is found that the respondents were most concerned about unsafe conditions due to manhole covers, damaged manhole covers, insufficient street lighting, potholes and bumps on pavements, and uneven pavements. Furthermore, the performance of M&R ...

With electronic procurement solutions becoming increasingly sophisticated, many firms opt to source these services from third-party providers, effectively transferring (outsourcing) significant responsibility to these services companies. This action, however, entails certain risks, which are oftentimes difficult to assess. To guide managerial practice and to advance academic inquiry in this domain, we identify e-procurement risk factors through a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats analysis, grounded in transaction cost economics (TCE), and propose a risk assessment framework based on the opinions of a group of experts. The approach taken is that of a modified analytic network process methodology, combined with a fuzzy inference system, which is versatile enough to accept the expert opinions in different input formats (such as linguistic variables and ranges). The proposed framework has the capability to aggregate expert judgements’ to estimate risk likelihoods, risk severities and risk ...

Climate change has become a global issue influencing human survival and development while urban carbon emission is the main factor. As a fundamental building block of the city, neighborhood is not only the basic space to create a truly sustainable community but also the starting point for the use of low-carbon ideas and technologies to address climate change and promote the construction of a low-carbon city. Considering the significance of neighborhood planning on reducing carbon emissions, we proposed low-carbon neighborhood planning technologies from six aspects: layout planning, traffic planning, architecture planning and design, environment planning, municipal engineering planning and construction management. Moreover, we built an indicator system of low-carbon neighborhood based on these technologies from the perspective of “carbon source control” and “carbon sinks expansion” and used Analytic Network Process (ANP) to analyze the internal feedback and obtain the priorities. The system could be used to indicate low-carbon degree and provide measures for improvements. Furthermore, we carried out a case study using the proposed method for a neighborhood in Shandong province, China. Our practice has proved that the system could promote sustainable and low-carbon development of urban neighborhood and provide the government an effective tool.

In this life, every person is always faced with various options and each choice will certainly bring different consequences. Pharmacy Company as an organization which managed by the human resources are also faced with various options in order to determine a quality officer. The hardest thing in making a choice is an effort to eliminate the subjectivity factor of the procurement team so that every choice made is objective. Based on the analysis of the above requirements, the company need a computer application that can support decision making using the Analytic Network Process. The application is not a key decision makers who will replace the role of men but only as decision support. Applications are made to assist the Personnel Manager of the company in selecting prospective employees and new employee selection. In addition, the application also help in a structured data collection so that support a balanced and objective assessment.

Groundwater resources are among the world’s most important and vital supplies which are highly required for continuation of human life as well as wildlife. The growth of world’s population and the occurrence of climatic drought in recent decades have put a severe strain on these blessings all over the world so that most of the aquifers have dried up and the depth to groundwater in wells has deepened severely. In the present study the Analytic Network Process was used to extract degradation risk zones of groundwater in Marand Plain. To do this, all the effective factors including precipitation, air temperature, land use, soil permeability, flow direction, proximity to rivers and groundwater exploitation via wells and qanats were used. After construction of the database in GIS environment, the structure of the network was designed in Super Decision software. Clustering and pair-wise comparisons of the elements were executed based on the results of the Expert Knowledge questionnaire and the priority weights for each cluster and parameter was extracted consequently. Finally, the priority weights of the criteria were applied on the map layers and the final degradation risk map created overlaying all the maps. According the final output of the study, the Eastern and Western parts of Marand Plain have the highest and lowest susceptibilities respectively. It’s also found that the groundwater decline trend mimics the surface topography and flow direction in which has an East-West pattern.

Apparel safety is a key determinant of competitiveness in today’s dynamic and turbulent business environment. Apparel risks may cause catastrophic damages to wearer and result in substantial costs in terms of lost production and emergency recall operations. Identification of user safety indicators associated with apparel design and production is a very complex and critical task. The aim of this paper was to propose an analytic network process (ANP) model that serves to identify critical indicators for achieving apparel safety. This was the first time that this method was used in such a context. First, we constructed a reference framework of the indicators that contribute to achieving apparel safety based on a systematic analysis of the related references. Then, we developed an ANP model that provides a systematic approach to explore and analyze influential relationships between safety indicators and computes a weight to each indicator representing its relative importance. A comparison was conducted betwee...

Selecting a construction project is relatively complex as it involves multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM). To solve this problem, this study used the fuzzy Delphi method to identify six key factors of influence on selection outcomes and established evaluation criteria based on these factors. After employing analytic network process (ANP) to identify relationships between the objective, the evaluation criteria and the candidate projects, this study developed a decision-making model to resolve the difficulty of selecting an optimum construction project and conducted weighted analysis of the candidate projects using the quantitative procedures of ANP. Lastly, an empirical case study was used to verify the proposed method. The results of this study show that ANP can be used to build an effective decision-making model capable of analyzing candidate construction projects and selecting the optimal one.