Title: Application of grey relational analysis for ranking material options

Authors: Joseph W.K. Chan

Addresses: Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong, China

Abstract: The choice of materials for a manufacturing enterprise is important because it will influence the product design, product performance, material and production costs, product liability and product value. This paper presents a selection methodology that applies grey relational analysis for identifying the best material option. Using grey relational analysis, the multi-criteria weighted average is proposed in the decision-making process that ranks the material options in preference order under the conditions of non-linear constraints, uncertainties and conflicting objectives. It will guide the selection process and help a decision-maker to solve the selection problem. The method is demonstrated with an example. Various material options are evaluated using the developed multi-criteria methodology.

Keywords: grey relational analysis; materials selection; multi-criteria decision making; MCDM; outranking decisions.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCAT.2006.010766

International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology, 2006 Vol.26 No.4, pp.210 - 217

Published online: 30 Aug 2006 *

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