Fuzzy Theory and AHP Based Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) Vendor Service Quality Evaluation Method Study

Abstract

The service quality of manufacturing execution systems (MES) vendors gains more attentions than ever before, since more manufacturers plan to purchase MES for the improvement of plant operation and financial performance, and more software companies begin to supply the software. The paper supplies both an evaluation framework and a practical approach to evaluate the service quality of MES vendors. From the process viewpoint, the evaluation framework includes not only the after-sale supports, but also the MES software itself. The evaluation approach involves fuzzy theory and AHP, and ranks the alternatives based on the concept of positive/negative ideal alternative. Decision-maker's confidence level and preference on the fuzzy assessment results from respondents are incorporated in the approach. Finally, we validate the approach through a test