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Article
Publication date: 26 January 2010

Esmaeil Mehdizadeh

The aim of this paper is to present a fuzzy centroid‐based method to ranking customer requirements with competition consideration. The proposed method not only focuses on normal…

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to present a fuzzy centroid‐based method to ranking customer requirements with competition consideration. The proposed method not only focuses on normal fuzzy numbers, but also considers non‐normal fuzzy numbers to capture the true customer requirements.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper proposes a new customer requirements ranking method using QFD that not only focuses on the voice of the customer, but also considers the competitive environment. The method uses fuzzy mathematics instead of crisp numbers; this is known as the fuzzy centroid‐based method.

Findings

A numerical example demonstrates that if the fuzzy numbers are non‐normal, previous ranking methods were shown to be incorrect and to have led to some misapplications. To avoid possible further misapplications or spread in the future, the correct centroid formula used for fuzzy numbers is derived and their simplified expressions for non‐normal fuzzy numbers are given.

Originality/value

Various methods have been developed to rate and rank customer needs; however, few methods consider the competitive environment. In addition, in real applications, fuzzy mathematics are usually more appropriate than crisp models. Many previous methods are misleading and have led to some misapplications if the fuzzy numbers are non‐normal. The paper contributes to theory and practice by explaining the reasons for using the fuzzy centroid‐based method.

Details

International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, vol. 27 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0265-671X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 March 2013

Zivojin Prascevic and Natasa Prascevic

The purpose of this paper is to present one modification of the fuzzy TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) and to develop a corresponding…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present one modification of the fuzzy TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) and to develop a corresponding computer program which could be used for the multicriteria decision making for problems in practice.

Design/methodology/approach

This method is based on the uncertainties and probabilities of input data for ratings of alternatives with respect to criteria and weights of criteria that are presented by triangular fuzzy numbers as probabilistic fuzzy values. These input data are transformed in the procedure into output data that are relevant for the ranking of alternatives and decision making.

Findings

The proposed method is based on the generalized mean and spread of fuzzy numbers that are calculated according to probability of fuzzy events due to Zadeh. Ranking of alternatives for relevant criteria performs according to relative expected closeness, coefficient of variation and relative standard deviation of distance of alternatives to the ideal solutions. The most acceptable rule is related to the minimal value of the expected relative distance to positive ideal solution, especially when the coefficient of variation of distance to this solution is small. The attached example, related to a real project, confirms these findings.

Originality/value

This paper proposes three novel contributions in this area. Unlike the methods proposed by other authors, the weighted fuzzy decision matrix is expressed by the matrix of generalized expected values and matrix of generalized variances. To compute elements of these two matrices, exact formulae are derived and then the modified fuzzy TOPSIS procedure is carried out.

Article
Publication date: 1 January 1991

Lourdes Campos and Antonio Gonzalez

A new method to solve zero‐sum two‐person games with imprecise values in their matrices of pay‐offs is suggested. The natural lack of precision generated by the use of fuzzy

Abstract

A new method to solve zero‐sum two‐person games with imprecise values in their matrices of pay‐offs is suggested. The natural lack of precision generated by the use of fuzzy numbers in a fuzzy game requires the use of subjective criteria by the players in the resolution model. We apply a ranking function, the Average Value, which allows the decision makers to take into account their subjectivity. The use of this function raises again the solution of the fuzzy game when two criteria, one for each player, are used.

Details

Kybernetes, vol. 20 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 June 2020

Reza Fattahi, Reza Tavakkoli-Moghaddam, Mohammad Khalilzadeh, Nasser Shahsavari-Pour and Roya Soltani

Risk assessment is a very important step toward managing risks in various organizations and industries. One of the most extensively applied risk assessment techniques is failure…

Abstract

Purpose

Risk assessment is a very important step toward managing risks in various organizations and industries. One of the most extensively applied risk assessment techniques is failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA). In this paper, a novel fuzzy multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM)-based FMEA model is proposed for assessing the risks of different failure modes more accurately.

Design/methodology/approach

In this model, the weight of each failure mode is considered instead of risk priority number (RPN). Additionally, three criteria of time, cost and profit are added to the three previous risk factors of occurrence (O), severity (S) and detection (D). Furthermore, the weights of the mentioned criteria and the priority weights of the decision-makers calculated by modified fuzzy AHP and fuzzy weighted MULTIMOORA methods, respectively, are considered in the proposed model. A new ranking method of fuzzy numbers is also utilized in both proposed fuzzy MCDM methods.

Findings

To show the capability and usefulness of the suggested fuzzy MCDM-based FMEA model, Kerman Steel Industries Factory is considered as a case study. Moreover, a sensitivity analysis is conducted for validating the achieved results. Findings indicate that the proposed model is a beneficial and applicable tool for risk assessment.

Originality/value

To the best of authors’ knowledge, no research has considered the weights of failure modes, the weights of risk factors and the priority weights of decision-makers simultaneously in the FMEA method.

Details

Journal of Enterprise Information Management, vol. 33 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1741-0398

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 March 2017

Xiaodong Wang and Jianfeng Cai

For some specific multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problems, especially in emergency situations, because of the feature of criteria and other fuzzy factors, it is more…

Abstract

Purpose

For some specific multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problems, especially in emergency situations, because of the feature of criteria and other fuzzy factors, it is more appropriate that values of different criteria are expressed in their correspondingly appropriate value types. The purpose of this paper is to build a multi-criteria group decision-making (MCGDM) model dealing with heterogeneous information based on distance-based VIKOR to solve emergency supplier selection in practice appropriately and flexibly, where a compromise solution is more acceptable and suitable.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper extends the classical VIKOR to a generalized distance-based VIKOR to handle heterogeneous information containing crisp number, interval number, intuitionistic fuzzy number and hesitant fuzzy linguistic value, and develops an MCGDM model based on the distance-based VIKOR to handle the multi-criteria heterogeneous information in practice. This paper also introduces a parameter called non-fuzzy degree for each type of heterogeneous value to moderate the computation on aggregating heterogeneous hybrid distances.

Findings

The proposed distance-based model can handle the heterogeneous information appropriately and flexibly because the computational process is directly operated on the heterogeneous information based on generalized distance without a transformation process, which can improve the decision-making efficiency and reduce information loss. An example of emergency supplier selection is given to illustrate the proposed method.

Originality/value

This paper develops an MCGDM model based on the distance-based VIKOR to handle heterogeneous information appropriately and flexibly. In emergency supplier selection situations, the proposed decision-making model allows the decision-makers to express their judgments on criteria in their appropriate value types.

Article
Publication date: 1 December 2004

Hong Zhang, Heng Li and C.M. Tam

Construction‐oriented discrete‐event simulation often faces the problem of defining uncertain information input, such as subjectivity in selecting probability distributions that…

1463

Abstract

Construction‐oriented discrete‐event simulation often faces the problem of defining uncertain information input, such as subjectivity in selecting probability distributions that result from insufficient or lack of site productivity data. This paper proposes incorporation of fuzzy set theory with discrete‐event simulation to handle the vagueness, imprecision and subjectivity in the estimation of activity duration, especially when insufficient or no sample data are available. Based upon an improved activity scanning simulation algorithm, a fuzzy distance ranking measure is adopted in fuzzy simulation time advancement and event selection for simulation experimentation. The uses of the fuzzy activity duration and the probability distribution‐modeled duration are compared through a series of simulation experiments. It is observed that the fuzzy simulation outputs are arrived at through only one cycle of fuzzy discrete‐event simulation, still they contain all the statistical information that are produced through multiple cycles of simulation experiments when the probability distribution approach is adopted.

Details

Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, vol. 11 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-9988

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 February 2010

Wen‐Hsiang Lai, Pao‐Long Chang and Ying‐Chyi Chou

Establishing a performance‐oriented evaluation in public sectors is the key to successful administrations. However, because of lacking relative comparable measuring standards, it…

Abstract

Purpose

Establishing a performance‐oriented evaluation in public sectors is the key to successful administrations. However, because of lacking relative comparable measuring standards, it is difficult to measure the relative performance of one unit while comparing to other units with regard to the multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) of performance evaluation. This paper aims to focus on the performance ranking of research and development (R&D) projects in Taiwan's public sectors.

Design/methodology/approach

The algorithm in this paper is based on the concept of fuzzy set theory and the hierarchical structure analysis. The analyzing method adopts the methods of standard normal distribution, linear transformation, and fuzzy MCDM, carrying on the analysis of multiple criteria of the performance evaluation.

Findings

This paper constructs linguistic values to the subjective judgments and analyzes the ranking results of the performance evaluation with respect to 45 R&D projects of one of Taiwan's electric power companies. Thus, the paper demonstrates a successful way of evaluating R&D projects in the public sector.

Originality/value

In this paper, a decision algorithm based on the fuzzy set theory is proposed to solve the performance evaluation of R&D projects in public sectors. In order to solve the difficulties of measuring one unit of the relative performance of quantitative criteria comparing to the other units, the method of standard normal distribution is adopted while measuring the quantitative criteria. The concept of linguistic values and fuzzy numbers are used in this paper since they could easily be used to describe the subjective measurement of the appropriateness of alternatives and the importance weightings of criteria.

Details

Journal of Technology Management in China, vol. 5 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-8779

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 July 2019

Xiaoyue Liu, Xiaolu Wang, Li Zhang and Qinghua Zeng

With respect to multiple attribute group decision-making (MAGDM) in which the assessment values of alternatives are denoted by normal discrete fuzzy variables (NDFVs) and the…

Abstract

Purpose

With respect to multiple attribute group decision-making (MAGDM) in which the assessment values of alternatives are denoted by normal discrete fuzzy variables (NDFVs) and the weight information of attributes is incompletely known, this paper aims to develop a novel fuzzy stochastic MAGDM method based on credibility theory and fuzzy stochastic dominance, and then applies the proposed method for selecting the most desirable investment alternative under uncertain environment.

Design/methodology/approach

First, by aggregating the membership degrees of an alternative to a scale provided by all decision-makers into a triangular fuzzy number, the credibility degree and expect the value of a triangular fuzzy number are calculated to construct the group fuzzy stochastic decision matrix. Second, based on determining the credibility distribution functions of NDFVs, the fuzzy stochastic dominance relations between alternatives on each attribute are obtained and the fuzzy stochastic dominance degree matrices are constructed by calculating the dominance degrees that one alternative dominates another on each attribute. Subsequently, calculating the overall fuzzy stochastic dominance degrees of an alternative on each attribute, a single objective non-linear optimization model is established to determine the weights of attributes by maximizing the relative closeness coefficients of all alternatives to positive ideal solution. If the information about attribute weights is completely unknown, the idea of maximizing deviation is used to determine the weights of attributes. Finally, the ranking order of alternatives is determined according to the descending order of corresponding relative closeness coefficients and the best alternative is determined.

Findings

This paper proposes a novel fuzzy stochastic MAGDM method based on credibility theory and fuzzy stochastic dominance, and a case study of investment alternative selection problem is provided to illustrate the applicability and sensitivity of the proposed method and its effectiveness is demonstrated by comparison analysis with the proposed method with the existing fuzzy stochastic MAGDM method. The result shows that the proposed method is useful to solve the MAGDM problems in which the assessment values of alternatives are denoted by NDFVs and the weight information of attributes is incompletely known.

Originality/value

The contributions of this paper are that to describe the dominance relations between fuzzy variables reasonably and quantitatively, the fuzzy stochastic dominance relations between any two fuzzy variables are redefined and the concept of fuzzy stochastic dominance degree is proposed to measure the dominance degree that one fuzzy variable dominate another; Based on credibility theory and fuzzy stochastic dominance, a novel fuzzy stochastic MAGDM method is proposed to solve MAGDM problems in which the assessment values of alternatives are denoted by NDFVs and the weight information of attributes is incompletely known. The proposed method has a clear logic, which not only can enrich and develop the theories and methods of MAGDM but also provides decision-makers a novel method for solving fuzzy stochastic MAGDM problems.

Article
Publication date: 8 April 2014

Fahimeh Ramezani and Jie Lu

In any organization there are main goals, with lots of projects designed to achieve these goals. It is important for any organization to determine how much these projects affect…

1854

Abstract

Purpose

In any organization there are main goals, with lots of projects designed to achieve these goals. It is important for any organization to determine how much these projects affect the achievement of these goals. The purpose of this paper is to develop a fuzzy multiple attribute-based group decision-support system (FMAGDSS) to evaluate projects’ performance in promoting the organization's goals utilizing simple additive weighting (SAW) algorithm and technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) algorithm. The proposed FMAGDSS deals with choosing the most appropriate fuzzy ranking algorithm for solving a given fuzzy multi attribute decision making (FMADM) problem with both qualitative and quantitative criteria (attributes), and uncertain judgments of decision makers.

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper, a FMAGDSS model is designed to determine scores and ranks of every project in promoting the organization's goals. In the first step of FMAGDSS model, all projects are assessed by experts based on evaluation criteria and the organization's goals. The proposed FMAGDSS model will then choose the most appropriate fuzzy ranking method to solve the given FMADM problem. Finally, a sensitivity analysis system is developed to assess the reliability of the decision-making process and provide an opportunity to analyze the impacts of “criteria weights” and “projects” performance’ on evaluating projects in achieving the organizations’ goals, and to assess the reliability of the decision-making process. In addition, a software prototype has been developed on the basis of FMAGDSS model that can be applied to solve every FMADM problem that needs to rank alternatives according to certain attributes.

Findings

The result of this study simplifies and accelerates the evaluation process. The proposed system not only helps organizations to choose the most efficient projects for sustainable development, but also helps them to assess the reliability of the decision-making process, and decrease the uncertainty in final decision caused by uncertain judgment of decision makers.

Research limitations/implications

Future studies are suggested to expand this system to evaluate and rank the project proposals. To achieve this goal, the efficiency of the projects in line with organization's goals, should be predicted.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the relevant literature by proposing a FMAGDSS model to evaluate projects in promoting organization's goals. The proposed FMAGDSS has ability to choose the most appropriate fuzzy ranking algorithm to solve a given FMADM problem based on the type and the number of attributes and alternatives, considering the least computation and time consumption for ranking alternatives.

Details

Journal of Enterprise Information Management, vol. 27 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1741-0398

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 21 February 2020

Farhad Hosseinzadeh, Behzad Paryzad, Nasser Shahsavari Pour and Esmaeil Najafi

The optimization and tradeoff of cost-time-quality-risk in one dimension and this four-dimensional problem in ambiguous mode and risk can be neither predicted nor estimated. This…

Abstract

Purpose

The optimization and tradeoff of cost-time-quality-risk in one dimension and this four-dimensional problem in ambiguous mode and risk can be neither predicted nor estimated. This study aims to solve this problem and rank fuzzy numbers using an innovative algorithm “STHD” and a special technique “radius of gyration” (ROG) for fuzzy answers, respectively.

Design/methodology/approach

First, it is the optimization of a fully fuzzy four-dimensional problem which has never been dealt with in regard to risk in ambiguous mode and complexities. Therefore, the risk is a parameter which has been examined neither in probability and estimableness mode nor in the ambiguous mode so far. Second, it is a fully fuzzy tradeoff which, based on the principle of incompatibility “Zadeh, 1973”, proposes that when the complexity of a system surpasses the limited point, it becomes impossible to define the performance of that system accurately, precisely and meaningfully. The authors believe that this principle is the source of fuzzy logic. Third, for calculating and ranking fuzzy numbers of answers, a special technique for fuzzy numbers has been used. Fourth, For the sake of ease, precision and efficiency, an innovative algorithm called the technique of hunting dolphins “STHD” has been used. Finally, the problem is very close to reality. By applying risk in ambiguous mode, the problem has been realistically looked at.

Findings

The results showed that the algorithm was highly robust, with its performance depending very little on the regulation of the parameters. Ranking fuzzy numbers using the ROG indicated the flexibility of fuzzy logic, and it was also determined that the most appropriate regulations were to ensure low time, risk and cost but maximum quality in calculations, which were produced non-uniformly based on the levels of Pareto answers.

Originality/value

The ROG and Chanas Fuzzy Critical Path Method as developed by other researchers have been used. Despite the increase in limitations, parameters can develop. The originality of this study with regard to evaluating the results of tradeoff combinatorial optimization is upon decision-making which has a special and highly strategic role in the fate of the project, with the research been conducted with a special approach and different tools in a fully fuzzy environment.

1 – 10 of over 8000