Evaluation and selection of manufacturing technologies using the analytic hierarchy process in wing assembly

State of the art technologies are devoted to improving the operational efficiency and subsequent competitiveness of an organisation. The selection process is a tedious, complex and capital intensive task, often based on numerous conflicting factors. Aircraft manufacture requires the selection of potential technologies expected to mature and remain throughout a twentyfive year product lifecycle. It is common for businesses to have guidelines on how technologies are developed once selected; however, it is unclear how technologies were selected due to a lack of methodology and the reliance of internal know-how policies.The purpose of this paper is to provide an insight into the application of the analytic hierarchy process for evaluating and selecting the optimum manufacturing technology in a complex aerospace manufacturing environment. A study was applied at a large European aircraft manufacturer to optimise the ranking process of alternative wing component measurement technologies. Evaluation and selection of manufacturing technologies using the analytic hierarchy process in wing assembly