A visual interactive multicriteria decision analysis model for FMS design

The main goal of this work is to develop a multicriteria decision model aimed at the evaluation of FMS competing design alternatives. The model was developed to support the design team in exploring the strengths and weaknesses of each alternative, to assist the setting of priorities between conflicting manufacturing strategy components (such as flexibility and quality), to study the sensitivity of the behaviour of alternatives to changes in underlying decision situations, and finally to identify a preferred course of action. In summary, the model can be considered as a mechanism for taking into account designer's preferences and wishes, in order to customise the manufacturing system for the user's particular situation. To be effective, the computational implementation of the multicriteria FMS design model provides extensive graphical and interactive facilities both to model structuring and evaluation. Moreover, the model provides animation facilities for visual interactive sensitivity analysis. A case study illustrates the effectiveness of the decision model.