Title: An AHP-Delphi multi-criteria location planning model with application to Whey Protein Production Facility decisions

Authors: Mohsen Pirdashti, Mehrdad Mohammadi, Farshad Rahimpour, Dennis T. Kennedy

Addresses: Chemical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Razi University, Kermanshah 67149-67346, Iran. ' Industrial Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Tarbiat-e Modares University, Tehran, Iran. ' Chemical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran. ' Management Department, School of Business, La Salle University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Abstract: Whey is produced as a by-product from the manufacture of cheese or caseins and its disposal is potentially a serious environmental problem. This paper proposes establishing a Whey Protein Production Facility (WPPF) as an independent facility that would be supplied with whey by-products from Hamedan province cheese factories. The alternative sites for a WPPF are industrial complexes in the Hamedan region. The Delphi technique was used to elicit expert opinions about criteria for evaluating the locations. The criteria identified by the experts were land expenses, industrial complex facilities, convenience of access to sources of whey protein, lack of competing factories and transportation. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Expert Choice software were used to compare the alternatives on the criteria derived from the Delphi process.

Keywords: analytical hierarchy process; AHP; Delphi; multicriteria decision making; MCDM: group DSS; decision support systems; plant location; whey protein production; Iran; group decisions; location evaluation; location selection; location planning.

DOI: 10.1504/IJADS.2008.020326

International Journal of Applied Decision Sciences, 2008 Vol.1 No.2, pp.245 - 259

Published online: 16 Sep 2008 *

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