A multiple-objective decision model for the evaluation of advanced manufacturing system technologies

Ordinary financial measures oversimplify the evaluation of advanced manufacturing system technologies (AMSTs). In this paper, a multiple-objective decision model is developed that avoids the shortcomings of traditional evaluation methods. The model is comprised of three objectives-pecuniary, strategic, and tactical. The pecuniary objective is based upon traditional discounted cash flow (DCF) techniques, with the results normalized to a [-1, +1] (worst-best) scale. The strategic and tactical objectives are based upon the concept of qualitative flows, and a qualitative discounting method is employed to discount the qualitative costs and benefits to a present value. The three objectives are traded off using the composite programming technique, resulting in a rank ordering of the alternatives under consideration. The three objectives of the model are broken down into attributes that define the objective. These attributes are mapped into the organization of a manufacturing environment. It is shown that the model covers the entire manufacturing organization in accounting for the costs and benefits of the proposed AMST alternatives. In addition to providing a ranking among alternative AMST projects, the influence of the three objectives on the final score can be analyzed using a mixture experiment. The mixture experiment provides insight into the effect of varying the importance of each objective and its effect on the final rankings. This provides the analyst a method to determine which attributes and objectives are critical for the AMST alternative being investigated.