APPLYING MULTIATTRIBUTE-BASED GROUP DECISION-MAKING TECHNIQUES IN COMPLEX EQUIPMENT SELECTION TASKS

A practicing industrial engineer, even an experienced decision maker, needs help in the sense that there is a necessity to use more logical or analytical decision support tools, especially when dealing with con trol and instrumentation projects which are often worth millions of do llars. In this article we propose an algorithm which can support the p rocess of group decision making relating to industrial automation, esp ecially involving the selection of control and instrumentation equipme nt. The aim of this article is to look only at the algorithm's applica tion and how it is applied. To this end two test cases are used as exa mples: (1) selecting a local area network for installation in an acade mic environment; and (2) selecting an integrated control system for a real-world pulp and paper mill. Obtained results show that the algorit hm leads to a satisfactory solution. A software form of the algorithm is being programmed for use as a decision support tool.