Application of analytic hierarchy process for the selection of cotton fibers

In many engineering applications, the final decision is based on the evaluation of a number of alternatives in terms of a number of criteria. This problem may become very intricate when the selection criteria are expressed in terms of different units or the pertinent data are difficult to be quantified. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is an effective way in dealing with such kind of complicated problems. Cotton fiber is selected or graded, in the spinning industries, based on several quality criteria. However, the existing selection or grading method based on Fiber quality Index (FqI) is rather crude and ambiguous. This paper presents a novel approach of cotton fiber selection using the AHP methodology of Multi Criteria Decision Making.