Combining AHP with Zero-One Goal Programming Technique for Selection of an Advanced Manufacturing System

To remain in the current competitive world as a manufacturing company, it is vital to use Advanced Manufacturing Systems (AMSs). AMS selection is now considered a strategic decision for organizations, due to the effects it has on their future activities. The process of decision-making involves some complexities which are not only caused by the varied quantitative and qualitative factors involved, but also due to the conflictions between these factors, and the diverse views of stakeholders. Thus, In order to choose AMS type, it is necessary to take into account both the effective factors and the stakeholder's viewpoints; and finally, the most suitable system should be recognized by the management, considering the limitations of the company’s resources. To date, different approaches have been developed for AMS evaluation and selection, with their own advantages and disadvantages - some of them ignoring the qualitative factors and others being time consuming, for instance. This paper combines the AHP method with zero-one goal programming technique, enabling decision - makers to encompass diverse views of stakeholders, and at the same time assess the conflicting factors. The proposed method has been applied to a real world situation to further prove that this combined method can prepare more key information to decision-makers than the rest of the available technology-evaluating methods.