Decision Making with Hierarchical Decision Model to Expedite the Manufacturing Process at Streimer Sheet Metal Works, lnc.

Abstract

The purpose of this study is ranking four different duct pinning machines for Streimer Sheet Metal Company using Hierarchical Decision Model (HDM) that has been derived from the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). Streimer Sheet Metal is a ductwork manufacturing company in Portland, Oregon. One of its products is insulated ductwork that is manufactured using a duct pinning machine. The company’s objective is to expedite the manufacturing process. This study applies HDM to compare three different criteria and ten different subcriteria before ranking four different outcomes (Machines). The analytical hierarchy process that is used in this study is a decision-making tool that can help describe the general decision operation by decomposing a complex problem into a multi-level hierarchical structure of objectives, criteria, sub-criteria and alternatives [1]. This particular model was validated and quantified by a panel of six experts and the criteria were ranked through pairwise comparisons. The results of the model show that building machine 3, which is a four Independently moving heads machine is the best alternative for Streimer.