Group Decision-Making Approach Based on Hybrid Multiple Criteria Techniques in Chiller Configuration Development

The paper presents an approach to group decision-making in product development. It demonstrates decision-making among multiple engineering teams, negotiation, and final decisions for each requirement and product component. The approach combines the Modular Function Deployment (MFD), Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and PROMETHEE methods as a hybrid multi-criteria technique. The MFD method allows for the creation of modular products. The AHP method provides a formal mechanism for calculating criteria weights, while the PROMETHEE method is used for final product ranking and selection. The approach enables engineering team members to handle both quantitative and qualitative criteria simultaneously. It also accommodates conflicting criteria, such as maximising performance while minimising cost. To illustrate this, product configuration is presented through a case study on water-cooled chillers. Verification of the presented approach was carried out using a computer algorithm implemented in the MATLAB programme.