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

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 at Portland, Oregon. One of its products is insulated ductwork that is manufactured using a duct pinning machine. The company goal is to expedite the manufacturing process. This study applies HDM to compare three different criteria and ten different sub-criteria 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, subcriteria and alternatives [Saaty, 1990]. “ Applications of AHP have been reported in numerous fields such as conflict resolution, project selection, budget allocation, transportation, health care, and manufacturing”[Harker, 1989]. 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 shows that building machine 3, which is a four Independently moving heads machine is the best alternative for Streimer