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In order to ensure the uninterrupted supply of items, the purchasing manager needs to evaluate suppliers' performance periodically. The evaluation process typically consists of identifying the attributes and factors relevant to the decision, and measuring the performance of a supplier by considering the relevant factors. Linguistic assessment of suppliers may be carried out based on several criteria. In this paper, an attempt has been made to evaluate the suppliers' performance by adopting an evolutionary fuzzy system. One of the key considerations in designing the proposed system is the generation of fuzzy rules. A genetic algorithm‐based methodology is developed to evolve the optimal set of fuzzy rule base, and a fuzzy inference system of the MATLAB fuzzy logic toolbox is used to assess the suppliers' performance. The proposed methodology, illustrated with the data collected in a process plant, provides acceptable results in determining the suppliers' performance score.

Bioprinting is a promising technology, which has gained a recent attention, for application in all aspects of human life and has specific advantages in different areas of medicines, especially in ophthalmology. The three-dimensional (3D) printing tools have been widely used in different applications, from surgical planning procedures to 3D models for certain highly delicate organs (such as: eye and heart). The purpose of this paper is to review the dedicated research efforts that so far have been made to highlight applications of 3D printing in the field of ophthalmology.

In this paper, the state-of-the-art review has been summarized for bioprinters, biomaterials and methodologies adopted to cure eye diseases. This paper starts with fundamental discussions and gradually leads toward the summary and future trends by covering almost all the research insights. For better understanding of the readers, various tables and figures have also been incorporated.

The usages of bioprinted surgical models have shown to be helpful in shortening the time of operation and decreasing the risk of donor, and hence, it could boost certain surgical effects. This demonstrates the wide use of bioprinting to design more precise biological research models for research in broader range of applications such as in generating blood vessels and cardiac tissue. Although bioprinting has not created a significant impact in ophthalmology, in recent times, these technologies could be helpful in treating several ocular disorders in the near future.

This review work emphasizes the understanding of 3D printing technologies, in the light of which these can be applied in ophthalmology to achieve successful treatment of eye diseases.

The purpose of this study was to develop a correlation between the properties of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene parts 3D printed by material extrusion (MEX) process.

The two MEX parameters and their values have been selected by design of experiment method. Three properties of MEX parts, i.e. strength (tensile and three-point bending), surface roughness and the dimensional accuracy, are studied at different build speeds (35 mm/s, 45 mm/s and 55 mm/s) and the layer heights (0.06 mm, 0.10 mm and 0.15 mm).

The results show that tensile strength and three-point bending strength both increase with the decrease in build speed and the layer height. The artifact selected for dimensional accuracy test shows higher accuracy of the features when 3D printed with 0.06 mm layer height at 35 mm/s build speed as compared to those of higher layer heights and build speeds. The optical images of the 3D-printed specimen reveal that lower build speed and the layer height promote higher inter-layer diffusion that has the effect of strong bonding between the layers and, as a result, higher strength of the specimen. The surface roughness values also have direct relation with the build speed and the layer height.

The whole experiments demonstrate that the part quality, surface roughness and the mechanical strength are correlated and depend on the build speed and the layer height.