An Integrated Management-Support Methodology for the Selection of Rapid Prototyping Technologies

AbstractThis paper deals with the investment evaluation and selection of Rapid Prototyping Technologies (RP), implying a complex multi criterion which is due to several reasons. Among these are: the low degree of experience of the decision maker with respect to the technology to be purchased, the high number of both quantitative and qualitative attributes that have to be considered in the selection process and the number of variety of alternative technologies available on the market. This paper proposes an integrated methodology that is based on DEMATEL method to assign the weights to the influencing factors and TOPSIS method to select the appropriate technology. Finally, a sensitivity analysis of the proposed model considers attitude of the decision maker in selecting the best technology