The main purpose of this thesis is to develop a new model which helps the decision maker to rationalize outsourcing decisions based on Life Cycle Cost (LCC) analysis and select the appropriate supplier. The model developed consists of four main phases, as well as a pre-evaluating step, which investigate the organization needs and circumstances. Phase I is an evaluation and calculation phase, it assess whether outsourcing is the right policy to be adopted as a competitive advantage from two perspectives; the strategic evaluation of the outsourcing decision, and the cost savings through the life time of the outsourcing process using LCC. Phase II is supplier's selection; it aims to select the preferred supplier using Multiple Criteria Decision Making (MCDM), as well as identifies performance measures to monitor supplier performance. Phase III is maintain and monitor phase, it aims to keep the process and the supplier under continuous revision and assessment. Phase IV is review phase, it aims to identify if a specified monitored parameter is out of control or at critical levels, and identify the causes. This model contribute in covering the lack in the literature by considering LCC in the outsourcing decision making, as well as providing a structured model that concern about the whole process starting by understanding the organizations need and ends by monitoring and review the outsourcing process. The model was validated at one Swedish company, i.e. Kalmar Industries in Ljungby assembly unit, in particular, within the maintenance department. The results of the model validation shows that using LCCA, and risk benefits associated, the preferred alternative is to outsource all the maintenance activities related to ventilation system, these activates involve maintenance personnel, spare parts, and third party to monitor and report the process to authorities. Furthermore, based on LCCA and other suggested criteria and using MCDM, ABB Supplier got the lowest score in MCDM i.e. 36.70% (the lowest LCC along with fulfillment of the qualitative criteria). The main result is that; it is possible to employ LCCA in the maintenance outsourcing process to achieve a strategic model valid for decisions taking over the life length of the process. Consequently, the main recommendation for the case company is to outsource these activities and to transfer it to ABB service supplier.

An increasing number of agencies have begun to define sustainability for transportation systems and are taking steps to incorporate the concept into the regional transportation planning process. Planning for sustainable transportation systems should at the very least incorporate their broader impacts on system effectiveness, environmental integrity, economic development, and the social quality of life. This study reviews definitions, performance measures, and evaluation methodologies for transportation system sustainability and demonstrates a framework for incorporating sustainability considerations in transportation planning and decision making. Through a case study using data from the Atlanta Metropolitan Region, the study evaluates competing transportation and land use plans based on a broad range of sustainability parameters using relevant spatial and environmental analyses. A multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) method enables the aggregation of individual performance measures into four basic indexes and further into a composite sustainability index based on regional goals and priorities. The value of the indexes lies in their ability to capture the multidimensional nature of sustainability as well as important tradeoffs among the potentially conflicting decision criteria. A decision support tool is proposed to visualize dominance and tradeoffs when evaluating alternatives and to effectively reflect changing regional priorities over time. The proposed framework should help decision makers with incorporating sustainability considerations into transportation planning as well as identifying superior plans for predetermined objectives.

Decision making is necessary to provide a synthesis scheme to design activities and identify the most preferred design alternative. There exist several methods that address modeling designer preferences in a graphical manner to aid the decision making process. For instance, the Conjoint Analysis has been proven effective for various multi-attribute design problems by utilizing a ranking- or rating-based approach along with the graphical representation of the designer preference. However, the ranking or rating of design alternatives can be inconsistent from different users and it is often difficult to get customer responses in a timely fashion. The high number of alternative comparisons required for complex engineering problems can be exhausting for the decision maker. In addition, many design objectives can have interdependencies that can increase complexity and uncertainty throughout the decision making process. The uncertainties apparent in the attainment of subjective data as well as with system models can reduce the reliability of decision analysis results. To address these issues, the use of a new technique, the Improved Conjoint Analysis, is proposed to enable the modeling of designer preferences and trade-offs under the consideration of uncertainty. Specifically, a simulation-based ranking scheme is implemented and incorporated into the traditional process of the Conjoint Analysis. The proposed ranking scheme can reduce user fatigue and provide a better schematic decision support process. In addition, the incorporation of uncertainty in the design process provides the capability of producing robust or reliable products. The efficacy and applicability of the proposed framework are demonstrated with the design of a cantilever beam, a power-generating shock absorber, and a mesostructured hydrogen storage tank.

Transportation decision makers are tasked with doing more improvements with less funding, which requires effective tools to assess and predict the outcomes of their choices. The objectives of this research are to explore customer satisfaction in various contexts, assess its application in transportation contexts and develop quantitative, empirically-based tools that improve customer satisfaction in transportation decision making. This research conducted a survey of targeted customer satisfaction practitioners and their planning products and tested the implicit assumption. The findings are significant and contrary to current theory and practice. The results support the hypothesis that the impact of negative performance is different than the impact of positive performance on customer satisfaction in a transportation context. These findings suggest that the relationship is asymmetrical and nonlinear contrary to implicit assumptions of current decision support tools like the Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) matrix. The results also identify that transportation agencies identify quality of life and customer satisfaction as an important goal and measure for their regions. These results suggest that customer satisfaction is a tool in decision making and there is an empirical methodology to accurately assess the relationship of performance to satisfaction that can impact resource decisions in transportation. The results also suggest that customer satisfaction can be used to address issues of social equity and the broader goals of transportation plans.

<p>The main purpose of this thesis is to develop a new model which helps the decision maker to rationalize outsourcing decisions based on Life Cycle Cost (LCC) analysis and select the appropriate supplier. The model developed consists of four main phases, as well as a pre-evaluating step, which investigate the organization needs and circumstances. Phase I is an evaluation and calculation phase, it assess whether outsourcing is the right policy to be adopted as a competitive advantage from two perspectives; the strategic evaluation of the outsourcing decision, and the cost savings through the life time of the outsourcing process using LCC. Phase II is supplier's selection; it aims to select the preferred supplier using Multiple Criteria Decision Making (MCDM), as well as identifies performance measures to monitor supplier performance. Phase III is maintain and monitor phase, it aims to keep the process and the supplier under continuous revision and assessment. Phase IV is review phase, it aims to identify if a specified monitored parameter is out of control or at critical levels, and identify the causes. This model contribute in covering the lack in the literature by considering LCC in the outsourcing decision making, as well as providing a structured model that concern about the whole process starting by understanding the organizations need and ends by monitoring and review the outsourcing process.</p><p>The model was validated at one Swedish company, i.e. Kalmar Industries in Ljungby assembly unit, in particular, within the maintenance department. The results of the model validation shows that using LCCA, and risk benefits associated, the preferred alternative is to outsource all the maintenance activities related to ventilation system, these activates involve maintenance personnel, spare parts, and third party to monitor and report the process to authorities. Furthermore, based on LCCA and other suggested criteria and using MCDM, ABB Supplier got the lowest score in MCDM i.e. 36.70% (the lowest LCC along with fulfillment of the qualitative criteria).</p><p>The main result is that; it is possible to employ LCCA in the maintenance outsourcing process to achieve a strategic model valid for decisions taking over the life length of the process. Consequently, the main recommendation for the case company is to outsource these activities and to transfer it to ABB service supplier.</p>

The design of an aerospace vehicle system is a complex integration process driven by technological developments, stakeholder and mission needs, cost, and schedule. The vehicle then operates in an equally complex context, dependent on many aspects of the environment, the performance of stakeholders and the quality of the design itself. Satisfying the needs of all stakeholders is a complicated challenge for designers and engineers, and stakeholder requirements are, at times, neglected in design decisions. Thus, it is critical to examine how to better incorporate stakeholder requirements earlier and throughout the design process. The intent of this research is to (1) examine how stakeholder considerations are currently integrated into aerospace vehicle design practice and curricula, (2) design empirically-informed and theoretically-grounded educational interventions for an aerospace design capstone course, and (3) isolate the characteristics of the interventions and learning environment which support students’ integration of stakeholder considerations. The first research phase identified how stakeholder considerations are taken into account within an aerospace vehicle design firm and in current aerospace engineering design curricula. Interviews with aerospace designers revealed six conditions at the group, interaction and individual levels affecting the integration of stakeholder considerations. Examining current curricula, aerospace design education relies on quantitative measures. Thus, many students are not introduced to stakeholder considerations that are challenging to quantify. In addition, at the start of an aerospace engineering senior design capstone course, students were found to have some understanding of the customer and a few contextual considerations, but in general students did not see the impact of the broader context or of stakeholders outside of the customer. The second research phase comprised the design and evaluation of a Requirements Lab and Stakeholders in Design Labs, two in-class interventions implemented in a senior aircraft design capstone course. Further, a Stakeholders in Design rubric was developed to evaluate students’ design understanding and integration of stakeholder considerations and, as such, can be used as a summative assessment tool. The two interventions were evaluated using a multi-level framework to examine student capstone design projects, a written evaluation, and observations of students’ design team meetings. The findings demonstrated an increase in students’ awareness of a diverse group of stakeholders, but also perceptions that students appeared to only integrate stakeholder considerations in cases where interactions with stakeholders were possible and the design requirements had an explicit stakeholder focus. Particular aspects of the aircraft design learning environment such as the lack of explicit stakeholder requirements, the differences between the learning environment in the two semesters of the course, and the availability of tools impacted students’ integration of stakeholder considerations and overall effectiveness of the interventions. This research serves as a starting point for future research in pedagogical techniques and assessment methods for integrating stakeholder requirements into technology-focused design capstone courses. The results can also inform the vehicle design education of students and engineers from other disciplines.

This study aims to explore the decision-making criteria for requirements selection in market-driven software development projects in China. Requirements selection decisions are made by reconciling the conflicting stakeholders??? value propositions into a mutually-agreed set through the negotiation and communication process between stakeholders. Firstly, this study identified decision-making criteria according to different stakeholders??? value propositions, and then evaluated the importance of the criteria when making the decisions of requirements selection. Moreover, the study determined the degree to which the stakeholders from business, product, and project perspectives influence the decision-making process. Furthermore, the study explored the communication between major stakeholders in requirements selection process, as a foundation to support and guide the process. A Delphi survey was applied in this study. Opinions from experienced industrial experts were obtained to achieve reliable consensus among them on the criteria and relative importance of the criteria in requirements selection process. The Delphi survey in this study included four phases of data collection by a series of intensive questionnaires interspersed with controlled opinion feedback and follow-up interviews. 132 Experts from 11 companies were recruited by following the rigid procedure to ensure the validity and reliability of the research. The study indicated that criteria from the business perspective had a major influence on decision-making of requirements selection, while project- and product-perspective criteria were relatively lower in priority. However, there were some inconsistencies among the opinions of the recruited experts regarding the importance of the criteria. The inconsistencies may result from a number of different factors, for example; different software development projects; different size, culture, organizational structure or maturity level of the companies; or different working positions of the experts surveyed. In addition, the study found three different types of communication in requirements selection in the companies surveyed. Further, Chinese culture was believed to have effects on the communication process between stakeholders. While informal communication was highlighted in Chinese context, the Chinese culture of strictly hierarchical communication could lead to problems in the communication process. Further research is recommended to gain deeper insight into these issues.

Orientador: Aneirson Francisco da Silva / Banca: Fernando Augusto Silva Marins / Banca: Rafael de Carvalho Miranda / Resumo: O controle de qualidade é um dos principais pilares para um bom rendimento de uma linha produtiva, visando garantir maior eficiência, eficácia e redução de custos de produção. A identificação de causas de defeitos e o controle das mesmas é uma atividade relativamente complexa, devido à infinidade de variáveis presentes em determinados processos. Na produção de itens à base de aço fundido, objetiva-se reduzir defeitos de fundição (rechupes, trincas, problemas dimensionais, entre outros), os quais podem ser ocasionados por diversas variáveis de processo, tais como: composição química do aço, temperatura de vazamento e propriedades mecânicas. Em virtude disso, o presente trabalho foi desenvolvido em uma indústria siderúrgica de grande porte, a qual atua na produção de componentes ferroviários e industriais. Por meio de sua extensa base de dados, foram avaliadas as eficiências dos produtos produzidos, sendo os mesmos denominados DMU (Decision Making Units). Para tal foi aplicada a BiO-MCDEA (Bi Objective Data Envelopment Analysis) em sete DMUs produzidas à base de aço fundido em função de 38 variáveis de processos. Nesta aplicação foram evidenciadas as variáveis de processos (input/output) influentes na determinação da eficiência das DMUs. Uma vez obtidos tais resultados, foram desenvolvidas funções empíricas para as variáveis respostas em função das variáveis de processos influentes por meio de regressão não-linear múltipla. Por fim foi realizada a Otimização via Simulação ... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Quality control is one of the pillars to guaranty a good yield on a production line, aiming to reach better efficiency, effectiveness and reduction of production costs. The identification of defects causes and its control is an activity relatively complex, due to the infinity of variables on some process. One of the most important objectives on a Steel Castings Parts production is to reduce castings defects (shrinkage, cracks, dimensional problems, etc.), that can be caused by several process variables, such asChemical Composition, Pouring Temperature and Mechanical Properties. Due to the mentioned explanations, this study was developed at a large steel industry, which produces rail and industrial parts. The efficiency of the produced parts, called DMU (Decision Making Units), was analyzed through an extensive data base. It was done by using BiO-MCDEA (Bi Objective Data Envelopment Analysis) on seven DMUs, which are steel casting parts, in function of 38 process variables. Additionally, the process variables influents on the DMU's efficiency determination were evidenced through the mentioned implementation. Once those results were obtained, empirical functions were developed for the response variables in function of the influents process variables through multiple non-linear regression. Finally an optimization via Monte Carlo Simulation was implemented in order to determine the inputs values necessary to optimize the empirical functions. The achieved results were satisfactory... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

The aim of the thesis with title Evaluation of life insurance is to choose the most convenient insurance product for a specific client. Since we choose insurance on the basis of several criteria and it is not obvious at first sight which product is the most advantageous, it is suitable to use methods of multiple criteria decision making. In theoretical part basic notions concerning insurance industry and multiple criteria decision making are explained. Next, all methods which are used to determine weights of criteria and to choose the best variant are described in detail. For purposes of the thesis there were gathered drafts contracts for investment life insurance and risk life insurance from seven insurance companies, which means altogether fourteen contracts. In practical part evaluation criteria are determined in collaboration with client and their weights are calculated. Next, order of particular variants was determined. All process was in person consulted with a specialist from the area of insurance industry. On the basis of used methods of multicriterial evaluation of variants we can say that for the specific client the insurance product Bella Vita from the Insurance Company Generali is the best choice. In comparison with other alternatives it´s advantage is insurance payment already from the fifteenth day in case of incapacity for work, which arose as a consequence of injury and high insurance payment in case of hospitalization. If the client will choose investment variant or risk variant depends only on his decision, because their results are comparable.

Esse trabalho tem como objetivo propor um modelo para determinação da criticidade em processos industriais, utilizando a análise multicritério. Inicialmente é proposta uma classificação por prioridade dos elementos mais críticos de um sistema industrial e posteriormente, uma ordenação desses elementos dentro das suas respectivas classes de criticidade, obtendo com isso a criticidade de cada um. O modelo baseia-se nos métodos de sobreclassificação ELECTRE TRI e PROMETHEE II. Uma aplicação do modelo é realizada nesse trabalho, onde são considerados os critérios: segurança; meio-ambiente; qualidade; impacto operacional; impactos econômicos; tempo médio entre falhas e tempo médio de reparo. Como resultado, são apresentadas comparações do modelo proposto com os métodos tradicionais de determinação de criticidade, procurando observar aspectos subjetivos e objetivos de forma conjunta, a fim de fornecer uma visão clara e sistêmica sobre os problemas implícitos na determinação da criticidade em sistemas industriais. É possível concluir que o uso da análise multicritério na determinação da criticidade possibilita maior profundidade na avaliação e constitui uma ferramenta que auxilia na gestão da manutenção e no aumento da confiabilidade para os sistemas produtivos. / This work aims to propose a model for determining the criticality in industrial processes, using the multi-criteria analysis. Initially it is proposed a priority rating of the most critical elements of an industrial system and later, an ordering of the elements within their respective classes of criticality, thus obtaining the criticality of each. The model is based on outranking methods ELECTRE TRI and PROMETHEE II. An application of the model is carried out in this work, where the criteria are considered: security; environment; quality; operational impact; economic impacts; mean time between failures and mean time to repair. As a result, are presented comparisons of the proposed model with the traditional methods of determination of criticality, trying to observe subjective aspects and objectives jointly in order to provide a clear and systemic view of the problems implicit in determining the criticality in industrial systems. It was concluded that the use of multi-criteria analysis to determine criticality enables greater depth in the assessment and is a tool that helps in the management of maintenance and increased reliability for production systems.