FlowSort-GDSS – A novel group multi-criteria decision support system for sorting problems with application to FMEA

Abstract

a b s t r a c tFailure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) is a well-known approach for correlating the failure modes of a system to their effects, with the objective of assessing their criticality. The criticality of a failure mode is traditionally established by its risk priority number (RPN), which is the product of the scores assigned to the three risk factors, which are likeness of occurrence, the chance of being undetected and the severity of the effects. Taking a simple ''unweighted'' product has major shortcomings. One of them is to provide just a number, which does not sort failures modes into priority classes. Moreover, to make the decision more robust, the FMEA is better tackled by multiple decision-makers. Unfortunately, the literature lacks group decision support systems (GDSS) for sorting failures in the field of the FMEA.In this paper, a novel multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) method named FlowSort-GDSS is proposed to sort the failure modes into priority classes by involving multiple decision-makers. The essence of this method lies in the pair-wise comparison between the failure modes and the reference profiles established by the decision-makers on the risk factors. Finally a case study is presented to illustrate the advantages of this new robust method in sorting failures.

Supply input-output economics in process prioritisation of interdependent manufacturing systems

“…FMEA is an approach which aids decision makers in prioritising processes with respect to their potential failures. It does its purpose by calculating risk prioritisation numbers for each of the processes basing on the failure's likeness of occurrence, chance of being undetected, and severity of effects (Lolli et al, 2014). SWOT is an analysis of internal (strengths, weaknesses) and external (opportunities, threats) factors that result to positive and negative impacts to the development of the organisation (Beloborodko et al, 2015).…”

Prioritizing Interdependent Production Processes using Leontief Input-Output Model

“…FMEA is a methodology used in assessing the criticality of potential failure modes within a system by correlating these failure modes to their effects. This tool calculates risk prioritization numbers, based on the failure's likelihood of being undetected and severity of its effects that help decision-makers prioritize processes with respect to their potential failures [8]. FMEA was used for optimization of process parameters in a case of a process industry [17].…”

Supply input-output economics in process prioritization of interdependent manufacturing systems

“…See the works of Yang and Lee (1997), Tukundane et al (2015), Lolli et al (2014), and Peng et al (2015) for the application of these methods in process prioritisation. Generally, these methods except for SD use qualitative figures that are based on subjective and value judgements of decision makers which raise reliability issues on the decisions of the management.…”