Multi-criteria decision making using Fuzzy Logic and ATOVIC with application to manufacturing

Abstract

In this paper multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) is investigated as a framework for classification of part quality in a manufacturing process. The importance of linguistic interpretability of decisions is highlighted, and a new framework relying on the integration of Fuzzy Logic and an existing MCDM method is proposed. ATOVIC, previously developed as a TOPSIS-VIKOR-based MCDM framework is enhanced with a Fuzzy Logic framework for decision making - Fuzzy-ATOVIC. This research work demonstrates how to add linguistic interpretability to decisions made by the MCDM framework. This contributes to explainable decisions, which can be crucial on numerous domains, for example on safety-critical manufacturing processes. The case study presented is the one of ultrasonic inspection of plastic pipes, where thermomechanical joining is a critical part of the manufacturing process. The proposed framework is used to classify (take decisions) on the quality of manufactured parts using ultrasonic images around the joint region of the pipes. For comparison, both the original and the Fuzzy Logic-enhanced MCDM methods are contrasted using data from manufacturing trials and subsequent ultrasonic testing. It is shown, that Fuzzy-ATOVIC provides a framework for linguistic interpretability while the performance is the same or better compared to the original MCDM framework