ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of various multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) techniques. It discusses the basic concepts of many of the MCDM techniques used in this book. The book illustrates the use of MCDM techniques in environmentally conscious manufacturing and product recovery (ECMPRO). Goal programming is a popular multi-objective optimization technique. Human reasoning modeled in Boolean logic is based on two truth values (i.e., true and false). Fuzzy logic (FL) extends Boolean logic by considering the whole interval between 0 (false) and 1 (true). FL achieves the quantification of the vagueness by using fuzzy set theory. A membership function value of 1 represents a perfect match between the generic element y and the fuzzy set N. Linear physical programming eliminates the weight assignment process encountered in many multiobjective decision making methodologies such as the analytical hierarchy process (AHP), and preferences of decision makers are modeled in a more detailed, quantitative, and qualitative way without using physically meaningless weights.
