Assuring production forms a crucial part of mining business profitability. Factors related to various mine operations, activities and business processes can threaten required/planned mine production. To address problems and ensure production level in mining, it is necessary to implement a mine production assurance program (MPA). Since such a guideline does not exist for mining as a process industry, this study started by reviewing four such techniques used in similar industries. These methods include: total productive maintenance, six sigma, a method prescribed by European foundation of quality management, and production assurance program (PAP) used in the oil and gas industry.These methods and techniques were reviewed according to their objectives and applications. Their implementation and achieved success was determined through a literature review and field participation/study. Comparing the tools, techniques and focus with mining productivity and production factors, it was observed that applicability of these methods for mining is limited due to a lack of tools for specific analysis or a lack of consideration of the requirements of mining. However, given certain similarities in objective and methods, PAP from the oil and gas industry may provide some guidance for MPA.As a basis of MPA, an index is required to create a clear relationship between different situations which can occur in mining operation and production loss. A literature review on mining productivity improvement methods shows availability, utilisation and production performance of equipment are the key factors in determining overall production. A single index applicable for chain operation in mining is needed. Overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) which includes these three elements has some limitations for application in mining. A Mine Production index (MPi) is thus proposed. This index involves all three parameters for equipment productivity mentioned above. It also consists of weights for each parameter. The weights in this study are determined through expert opinions/judgements using fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP). Equipment with low MPi can be labelled as bottlenecks. Weights associated with MPi calculation for bottleneck equipment can point out critical factors in equipment operation. Once bottleneck equipment and relevant critical factors are known, further analysis can be carried out to determine the exact cause of production loss.By using MPi for machine operations, it is possible to rank machines in terms of production effectiveness. When the study applied MPi to chain operations in a mining case study, a crusher was determined as bottleneck equipment. Further root cause analysis and uncertainty detection for bottleneck equipment is also possible, and this forms the basis for MPA. / CAMM - Lean mining

evaluate disruption risks in the supply chain of petroleum production. This methodology is developed to formalise and facilitate the systematic integration and implementation of various models; such as analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and partial least squares structural equation model (PLS-SEM) and various statistical tests. The methodology is validated with the case of Nigeria’s oil industry. The study revealed the need to provide a responsive approach to managing the influence of geopolitical risk factors affecting supply chain in the petroleum production industry. However, the exploration and production risk, and geopolitical risk were identified as concomitant risk factors that impact performance in Nigeria’s oil industry. The research findings show that behavioural-based mechanisms successfully predict the ability of the petroleum industry to manage supply chain risks. The significant implication for this study is that the current theoretical debate on the supply chain risk management creates the understanding of agency theory as a governing mechanism for supply chain risk in the Nigerian oil industry. The systematic approach results provide an insight and objective information for decisions-making in resolving disruption risk to the petroleum supply chain in Nigeria. Furthermore, this study highlights to stakeholders on how to develop supply chain risk management strategies for mitigating and building resilience in the supply chain in the Nigerian oil industry. The developed systematic method is associated with supply chain risk management and performance measure. The approach facilitates an effective way for the stakeholders to plan according to their risk mitigation strategies. This will consistently help the stakeholders to evaluate supply chain risk and respond to disruptions in supply chain. This capability will allow for efficient management of supply chain and provide the organization with quicker response to customer needs, continuity of supply, lower costs of operations and improve return on investment in the Nigeria oil industry. Therefore, the methodology applied provide a new way for implementing good practice for managing disruption risk in supply chain. Further, the systematic approach provides a simplistic modelling process for disruption risk evaluation for researchers and oil industry professionals. This approach would develop a holistic procedure for monitoring and controlling disruption risk in supply chains practices in Nigeria.

Yes / In this paper, a novel multilink selection framework is developed for different applications with various quality of service (QoS) requirements in avionic systems, based on the multi-attribute decisionmaking model. Two metaheuristic algorithms are proposed to solve this model while optimizing the multilink selection performances. Multilink configuration and multi-homing capabilities are generally required for aircrafts operating in a heterogeneous wireless network environment. The first algorithm, called Analytic Hierarchy Process and Simulated Annealing (AHP-SA), utilises a two-phase process. In Phase one, an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is used to choose the decision weight factors. Then, in Phase two, a simulated annealing process is applied to select suitable networks, for various service requests, based on the weights obtained from first phase. Further, to improve customer satisfaction, Simulated Annealing algorithm for Simultaneous Weights and Network Selection Optimisation (SA-SWNO) is developed, in which a simulated annealing algorithm is applied to dynamically optimise weight factors of objective functions and the request-to-network assignment matrix. Simulation results demonstrates that both proposed algorithms outperform the commonly used price-based or QoS-based network selection scheme with much higher averaged satisfaction degree and lower computational complexity. / Cockpit NetwOrk CoMmunications Environment Testing (COMET) Project under the European Commission’s Program Clean Sky2 in partnership with the European Aeronautical Industry

Klimatförändringarna och den globala uppvärmningen är ett faktum som kan leda till kraftigare nederbördstillfällen samt öka risken för bland annat översvämningar. Översvämningsrelaterade katastrofer har under de senaste 20 åren ökat och översvämningsrelaterade händelser står för 44 procent av världens naturkatastrofer. Samtidigt ökar tillväxten av många städer och samhällen vilket sätter större krav på beslutsfattare och kommuner att välja lämpliga platser för exploatering. Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur en GIS-baserad multikriterieanalys kan användas för att identifiera översvämningsrisker samt hur karteringen över översvämningsrisker vidare kan användas för att identifiera lämpliga platser för bostadsexploatering. Studien utfördes genom att intervjua översvämningsexperter och samhällsplanerare, samt genom att använda geografiska informationssystems (GIS)-baserade metoder såsom Multikriterieanalys (MKA), Analytisk hieratisk process (AHP) och känslighetsanalys. Intervjuerna gav värdefulla synpunkter på kriterier, rangordning och viktning. Resultaten av översvmningsriskkarteringen visar de områden som har mycket hög till mycket låg risk att exponeras för en översvämning. För att identifiera lämpliga platser för bostadsutveckling användes översvämningsriskkarteringen som ett kriterium tillsammans med andra viktiga komponenter såsom fysiska och sociala faktorer. Resultaten visar att den lämpligaste platsen är lokaliserad i den sydvästra delen av Näringen och har en storlek på 25 737 kvadratmeter (kvm). Den känslighetsanalys som utfördes i studien, genom att ändra rangordningen på kategorierna (översvämningsrisk, fysiska- och sociala faktorer), visade det att den största förändringen skedde när de sociala faktorerna fick en hög rangordning och vikt. Diskussionen och slutsatsen visar hur bland annat valet av kriterier och intervjupersoner kan påverka resultatet och att det finns många osäkerheter med att använda MKA. Resultatet av en MKA bör därför utvärderas om det ska vara möjligt att avgöra om bostäder kan exploateras på Näringen. / Climate change and global warming are some causes that can lead to heavier precipitation and increased risk of floods. Flood-related disasters have increased over the past 20 years and 44 percent of the world's natural disasters are due to flood-related events. At the same time, the growth is increasing in many of the world's cities and communities, which places greater demands on decision-makers and municipalities to choose suitable places for exploitation. The purpose of the study is to investigate how a GIS-based multi-criteria analysis can be used to identify flood risks and how the mapping of flood risks can be used further to identify suitable sites for housing development. The study was conducted by interviewing flood experts and urban planners and implementing Geographic Information Systems (GIS)-based method such as Multi-criteria Analysis (MCA), Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Sensitivity Analysis to produce the results. The respondents provided valuable views on the criteria, ranking and weighting of criteria. The results of the flood hazard map show the areas that are at high and low risk of being flooded. In finding suitable sites for housing development, the flood hazard map was used as an input together with other important components such physical and social factors. The results show that the most suitable place is in the southwestern part of Näringen, which has a size of 25 737 m2. In the sensitivity analysis that was performed where ranking of the categories was changed (flood risk, physical and social factors), it showed that the biggest change took place when the social factors received high ranking and weight. The discussion and conclusion show how the choice of criteria, weighting and interviews can affect the results and the many uncertainties with using MCA. The results of an MCA should therefore be evaluated if it is to be possible to decide whether housing can be exploited on Näringen.

The dependency of maintenance as a manufacturing logistic function has made the considerations of maintenance decisions complex in nature. The importance of maintenance has escalated significantly by the increasing of automation in manufacturing processes. This condition switches the traditional maintenance perspective of “fire-fighter” into the business competitive driver. As a consequence, maintenance needs to consider other related aspects of decision making to achieve competitive advantage. This research aims to develop a hybrid Knowledge-Based (KB) System/GAP/AHP methodology to support the integration of maintenance decision with business and manufacturing perspectives. It constructs over 2000 KB rules on Strategic Stage (business and manufacturing aspects) and Maintenance Operations Stage (maintenance aspects). Each aspect contains KB rules attached with GAP analysis to assess the gap between current and prerequisite condition. AHP analysis is then deployed to compare those aspects structurally in a pair-wise manner to identify the critical ones to be rectified. This hybrid KB system is useful in reviewing the existing maintenance system performance and provides reasonable recommendations to improve maintenance performance with respect to business and manufacturing perspectives. Eventually, it indicates the roadmap from the current state to the benchmark goals for the maintenance system. This novel methodology of KBS/GAP/AHP to support maintenance decision is developed for a particular application in the automotive environment. The validation is conducted in two automotive companies in Indonesia and one published case study in an automotive company. The result confirms that the developed KB system can provide the valid, reasonable and consistent result to propose structured recommendation for maintenance improvement priority.

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International cooperation and foreign investment issues are two important components of an international economy. The various aspects of research related to such international cooperation and foreign investment decisions are fraught with various complex factors. In this thesis, we consider two specific issues in the arena of international technological cooperation and foreign investments, by using established Operations Research techniques of game theory and multiple criteria decision making. We first analyze regional technological cooperation mechanisms using classical game theory. A concept of regional technological cooperation is developed based on a cooperative game theoretic model, in which a plan of payoff distributions induces an agreement that is acceptable to each participant. Under certain conditions, the underlying game is shown to be convex, and hence to have a nonempty core with the Shapley value allocations belonging to the core. A compensation scheme is devised based on the Shapley value allocations, whereby participants who enjoy a greater payoff with respect to the technological cooperation compensate the participants who receive a relatively lesser payoff via cooperation. In this manner, regional technological cooperation can bring overall benefits to all the involved players in the game. Some insightful examples are provided to illustrate the methodological concept. Next, we discuss a model for analyzing foreign direct investment opportunities and for evaluating related projects based on the International Investment Attracting Force Theory and the technology of fuzzy evaluation. This model is applied to assess the industrial investment projects that were proposed in the â â 95 China's Tumen River Area International Investment and Business Forumâ funded by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization. Accordingly, the projects are classified into groups based on their potential to attract foreign investors. Furthermore, we simulate the actual forming process whereby projects are sequenced and selected for funding by foreign investors based on a sequential update of their effect on the local economy. The results provide a scientific basis for formulating related decisions and policy recommendations regarding the various proposed projects. / Master of Science

Providing products that are customized to meet a specific customer's unique needs is challenging for companies. Product configuration systems are tools that enables parts of these activities to be performed automatically. However, there is a lack of systems designed to ensure that the configured products are based on customer needs. Decision support systems based on Multi-criteria decision making methods have the potential to solve this problem. Yet, there is a lack of knowledge regarding various multi-criteria decision making methods. Moreover, there is a need to reduce the complexity of the methods by incorporating them into user-friendly software’s. This research therefore investigates how the architecture of a decision support system based on multi-criteria decision making methods could be structured to include customer needs and suggest product configurations based on them. Through a literature review various methods are analyzed. In collaboration with an aircraft towing tractor manufacturer as a representative of customizable products the architecture of the system is developed. The study shows that a system based on a combination of Analytical Hierarchy Process, Quality Function Deployment and Expert system can solve the problem. This is to the authors knowledge the first study to use this combination. It provides an approach of how to ensure that product configurations can be aligned with customer needs and that the consistency of these needs is assured.

Tesis por compendio / [EN] The main objectives of this research are the following. First, to analyse the models and methods in Decision Support Systems (DSS) for forest management, taking into account the important features which allow forestry related problems to be categorized. Second, to define strategic criteria for the sustainable management of Mediterranean forests, as well as to elicit and aggregate the stakeholders' preferences. Third, to propose a robust methodology to implement collaborative management focused on ESS and to develop indicators for the main functions of ESS. The methodology is based on a workshop and surveys to elicit the decision makers', experts' and other stakeholders' preferences. Several techniques were then used to aggregate individual judgements and determine social preferences, in particular, Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Goal Programming (GP). In addition, a PROMETHEE based method has been developed to provide indicators of the ESS, classified into provisioning, maintenance and direct to citizens services. The analysis of DSS for forest management has shown that the best choice of approach to solve a given problem depend on its nature, which can be characterized by the temporal scale, spatial context, spatial scale, number of decision makers or stakeholders, objectives and finally goods and services involved. A decision hierarchy for strategic management of Valencian forests has been developed by involving experts during the design phase. This was later validated in consultation with the stakeholders in a workshop and provides the base from which to obtain the social preferences. The results show greater importance for environmental and social criteria and lesser relevance for economic criteria, valid for both public and private Mediterranean forests. This result is the same regardless of which preference aggregation technique was used and takes into account the preferences of the majority of the stakeholders and also the minority opinions furthest from the consensus. New products and services such as rural tourism, renewable energies, landscape, hydrological regulation and erosion control, biodiversity and climate change mitigation are relevant. This research also proposes a robust methodology to implement collaborative management focused on ESS provided by protected areas and aggregated indicators for their main functions. Decision makers, technical staff and other stakeholders are included in the process from the beginning, by identifying ESS and eliciting preferences using the AHP method. Qualitative and quantitative data are then integrated into a PROMETHEE based method in order to obtain indicators for provisioning, maintenance and direct to citizens services. This methodology, which has been applied in a forest natural park, provides a tool for exploiting available technical and social data in a continuous process, as well as graphical results, which are easy to understand. This approach also overcomes the difficulties found in prioritising management objectives in a multiple criteria context with limited resources and facilitates consensus between all of the people involved. The new indicators define an innovative approach to assessing the ESS from the supply perspective and provide basic information to help establish payment systems for environmental services and compensation for natural disasters. / [ES] Los principales objetivos de esta investigación son los siguientes. En primer lugar, analizar los modelos y los métodos de los sistemas de ayuda a la toma de decisiones para gestión forestal, teniendo en cuenta las características relevantes que permiten clasificar los problemas forestales. En segundo lugar, definir los criterios estratégicos para la gestión forestal sostenible del bosque mediterráneo, así como obtener y agregar las preferencias de los decisores y otras partes interesadas. En tercer lugar, proponer una metodología robusta para implementar una gestión colaborativa centrada en los servicios del ecosistema y desarrollar indicadores para las principales funciones de estos servicios. La metodología se fundamenta en una jornada de trabajo con decisores, expertos y otros grupos de personas interesadas, así como en encuestas a todos ellos. Después se han utilizado varias técnicas para agregar las preferencias individuales y determinar las preferencias de los distintos grupos sociales, en particular el proceso analítico jerárquico y la programación por metas. Adicionalmente, se ha desarrollado un método basado en PROMETHEE que permite obtener indicadores de los servicios del ecosistema, clasificados en servicios de producción, mantenimiento y directos a los ciudadanos. El análisis de los sistemas de ayuda a la toma de decisiones para gestión forestal ha puesto de manifiesto que los mejores enfoques para resolver los problemas forestales dependen de su naturaleza, caracterizada por la escala temporal, el contexto espacial, la escala espacial, el número de decisores o personas interesadas, el número de objetivos y por último los bienes y servicios involucrados. Se ha desarrollado una jerarquía de decisión para la gestión estratégica de los bosques valencianos involucrando a expertos en la fase de diseño. Este modelo fue validado posteriormente por las partes interesadas en una jornada organizada con esta finalidad y ha sido la base para obtener las preferencias sociales. Los resultados ponen de manifiesto la mayor importancia de los criterios medioambientales y sociales y la menor relevancia de los económicos, tanto para el monte mediterráneo público como privado. Este resultado es independiente del método de agregación utilizado y tiene en cuenta tanto las preferencias de la mayoría como de la minoría más alejada del consenso. Son relevantes los nuevos productos y servicios tales como el turismo rural, las energías renovables, el paisaje, la regulación hidrológica y el control de la erosión, la biodiversidad y la mitigación del cambio climático. Esta investigación también propone una metodología robusta para implementar una gestión colaborativa centrada en los servicios del ecosistema que proporcionan las áreas protegidas e indicadores agregados para sus principales funciones. Los responsables de las decisiones, el personal técnico y otras personas interesadas han participado desde el inicio del proceso, identificando los servicios del ecosistema y proporcionado sus preferencias mediante la técnica del proceso analítico jerárquico. Después se integran los datos cualitativos y cuantitativos en un método basado en PROMETHEE con la finalidad de obtener indicadores para los servicios de producción, mantenimiento y directos a los ciudadanos. Esta metodología, que se ha aplicado en un parque natural, facilita la explotación de los datos técnicos y sociales en un proceso continuo y proporciona resultados gráficos muy fáciles de entender. Este enfoque también permite superar las dificultades que surgen al priorizar los objetivos de gestión en un contexto multicriterio con recursos limitados y facilita el consenso entre todas las personas involucradas. Los nuevos indicadores representan un enfoque innovador para la valoración de los servicios del ecosistema desde el punto de vista de la oferta y proporcionan información básica para establecer sistemas de pagos por / [CA] Els principals objectius d'aquesta recerca són els següents. En primer lloc, analitzar els models i els mètodes dels sistemes d'ajuda a la presa de decisions per a gestió forestal, tenint en compte les característiques rellevants que permeten classificar els problemes forestals. En segon lloc, definir els criteris estratègics per a la gestió forestal sostenible del bosc mediterrani, com també obtenir i agregar les preferències dels decisors i altres parts interessades. En tercer lloc, proposar una metodologia robusta per a implementar una gestió col·laborativa centrada en els serveis de l'ecosistema i desenvolupar indicadors per a les principals funcions d'aquests serveis. La metodologia es fonamenta en una jornada de treball amb decisors, experts i altres grups de persones interessades, i també en enquestes a tots ells. Després s'han utilitzat diverses tècniques per a afegir-hi les preferències individuals i determinar les preferències dels diferents grups socials, en particular el procés analític jeràrquic i la programació per metes. Addicionalment, s'ha desenvolupat un mètode basat en PROMETHEE que permet obtenir indicadors dels serveis de l'ecosistema, classificats en serveis de producció, manteniment i directes als ciutadans. L'anàlisi dels sistemes d'ajuda a la presa de decisions per a la gestió forestal ha posat de manifest que els millors enfocaments per a resoldre els problemes forestals depenen de la naturalesa d'aquests problemes, caracteritzada per l'escala temporal, el context espacial, l'escala espacial, el nombre de decisors o persones interessades, el nombre d'objectius i, finalment, els béns i serveis involucrats. S'ha desenvolupat una jerarquia de decisió per a la gestió estratègica dels boscos valencians involucrant experts en la fase de disseny. Aquest model ha sigut validat posteriorment per les parts interessades en una jornada organitzada amb aquesta finalitat i ha sigut la base per a obtenir les preferències socials. Els resultats posen de manifest la major importància dels criteris mediambientals i socials i la menor rellevància dels econòmics, tant per a la muntanya mediterrània pública com privada. Aquest resultat és independent del mètode d'agregació utilitzat i té en compte tant les preferències de la majoria com de la minoria més allunyada del consens. Són rellevants els nous productes i serveis, com ara el turisme rural, les energies renovables, el paisatge, la regulació hidrològica i el control de l'erosió, la biodiversitat i la mitigació del canvi climàtic. Aquesta recerca també proposa una metodologia robusta per a implementar una gestió col·laborativa centrada en els serveis de l'ecosistema que proporcionen les àrees protegides i indicadors agregats per a les seues funcions principals. Els responsables de les decisions, el personal tècnic i altres persones interessades hi han participat des de l'inici del procés, identificant els serveis de l'ecosistema i proporcionant les seues preferències mitjançant la tècnica del procés analític jeràrquic. Després s'integren les dades qualitatives i quantitatives en un mètode basat en PROMETHEE amb la finalitat d'obtenir indicadors per als serveis de producció, manteniment i directes als ciutadans. Aquesta metodologia, que s'ha aplicat en un parc natural, facilita l'explotació de les dades tècniques i socials en un procés continu i proporciona resultats gràfics molt fàcils d'entendre. Aquest enfocament també permet superar les dificultats que sorgeixen a l'hora de prioritzar els objectius de gestió en un context multicriteri amb recursos limitats i facilita el consens entre totes les persones involucrades. Els nous indicadors representen un enfocament innovador per a la valoració dels serveis de l'ecosistema des del punt de vista de l'oferta i proporcionen informació bàsica per a establir sistemes de pagaments per serveis ambientals i compensacions per desastres naturals. / Segura Maroto, M. (2015). ASSESSMENT OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICES BASED ON MULTIPLE CRITERIA AND GROUP DECISION MAKING [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/57955 / Compendio