Hybrid Model for Evaluation of Manufacturing Sustainability using Axiomatic Design Principles: A Case of Machining Processes

摘要

Despite being a manufacturing technique that consumes energy and material, machining is often regarded as an important process due to the fact that it is flexible and is able to produce economic parts. However, to gain more cost-saving and enhanced environmental performance, sustainability principles have to be incorporated into machining technologies. This paper presents a case study that applies both crisp and fuzzy axiomatic design approach to construct a hybrid model with the purpose of facilitating the selection of sustainable manufacturing process. By converting numerical terms and linguistic factors into quantifiable score (in the form of information content), the proposed approach is able to produce indicative results and is capable of identifying the most sustainable process among three alternatives. Potentially, such information can be helpful for product development companies which strive to achieve sustainable product realization.