Title: A multi-criteria fuzzy method for selecting the location of a solid waste disposal facility

Authors: Anna Corinna Cagliano; Maria Teresa Pilloni; Carlo Rafele

Addresses: Department of Management and Production Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129, Torino, Italy ' Department of Mechanical, Chemical and Material Engineering, The University of Cagliari, Via Marengo 3, 09123, Cagliari, Italy ' Department of Management and Production Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129, Torino, Italy

Abstract: Facility location is a multi-criteria decision process that has important operational and economic impacts and that typically involves uncertainty and vagueness of evaluations. A fuzzy-based method supporting preliminary decision-making about siting solid waste incinerators is proposed building on a structured classification of criteria for location selection developed from the existing literature. The application to a case study revealed the advantages of the methodology. The work intends to provide a general and comprehensive taxonomy of decision criteria that may be adapted to various facility location problems together with a fuzzy inference process that is useful for companies and public administration institutions looking for rigorous but relatively simple decision-making tools in uncertain environments. Future research will compare the developed method with the most common tools for making location decisions. The approach will be then extended to different kinds of facilities.

Keywords: strategic planning; facility design; facility location selection; multicriteria decision making; MCDM; facility location criteria; fuzzy logic; waste disposal facilities.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMDM.2014.063568

International Journal of Management and Decision Making, 2014 Vol.13 No.3, pp.221 - 249

Received: 17 Jan 2013
Accepted: 07 Nov 2013
Published online: 24 Jul 2014 *

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