Decision making in equipment selection: an integrated approach with AHP and PROMETHEE

Multi-attribute equipment selection is a very important issue for an effective manufacturing system, since the improper equipment selection might cause many problems affecting productivity, precision, flexibility and quality of the products negatively. On the other hand, selecting the best equipment among many alternatives is a multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) problem. In this study, an integrated approach which employs analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and preference ranking organization method for enrichment evaluations (PROMETHEE) together, is proposed for the equipment selection problem. The AHP is used to analyze the structure of the equipment selection problem and to determine weights of the criteria, and PROMETHEE method is used to obtain final ranking, and to make a sensitivity analysis by changing the weights. Proposed approach is applied to a problem of selecting milling machines to be purchased in an international company. Company management found the application and results satisfactory and implementable in their equipment selection decisions.