A fuzzy multi-criteria group decision support system for nonwoven based cosmetic product development evaluation

Product prototype evaluation is an important phase in new product development (NPD). Such evaluation often requires multiple criteria that are within a hierarchy and a group of evaluators. The evaluation process and these evaluation criteria often involve uncertain and fuzzy data in the weights of these criteria and the judgments of these evaluators. To evaluate nonwoven cosmetic product prototypes, this study first develops a NPD evaluation model, which has evaluation criteria within three levels, based on the features of nonwoven products. It then proposes a fuzzy (multi-level) multi-criteria group decision-making (FMCGDM) method for supporting the evaluation task. A fuzzy multi-criteria group decision support system (FMCGDSS) is developed to implement the proposed method and applied in nonwoven cosmetic product development evaluation. © 2008 IEEE