Weighting of Criteria for the Application of the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) in the Selection of FDM Equipment through the Design of an Artefact

Abstract

Multicriteria decision techniques, among which the AHP represents one of the most widely used, allow the influence of a set of criteria to be considered simultaneously when making a certain decision. And they do so through the design of a hierarchical structure, in which the considered criteria are distributed, and the establishment of judgments that define the relative importance of each of them in the final decision. The results of any manufacturing process are conditioned by a set of parameters. At the same time, the different pieces of equipment that can carry out a certain process present differences in their performance, both in relation to said parameters and to the results that they allow to obtain. From this point of view, multicriteria decision techniques offer opportunities to channel the simultaneous consideration of all these aspects in order to make decisions in productive contexts. This work faces the initial phase of the design of a methodology for the selection of the most suitable FFF-SLA additive manufacturing equipment for different manufacturing scenarios. For this, the authors design an artefact capable of assessing the performance of the equipment considered as alternatives in relation to different relevant parameters for the decision. Then, main results and conclusions are discussed.