Evaluation of CAM Systems by Using Fuzzy Information Axiom Approach
Emre Cevikcan
Determining the most appropriate CAM (Computer Aided Manufacturing) system is considered as a critical decision making problem for production systems due to the fact that expectations and requirements of each production system have different nature for CAM system selection. Providing a scientific and systematic basis for design process, Axiomatic Design (AD) is based on two design axioms, namely independence axiom and information axiom which facilitates the selection of the best alternative that has the minimum information content. What is more, subjectivity and vagueness in the CAM system selection problem requires the consideration of fuzzy logic. The consideration of fuzzy logic provides the convenience of using linguistic terms during the evaluation of CAM systems. In this paper, a fuzzy information axiom based decision making approach is proposed to select the CAM system. Additional functional requirements are identified for CAM system selection problem for providing a comprehensive CAM-specific decision making model which has not yet been developed. Decision making process has been supported by means of a software which includes fuzzy AD. The proposed approach is applied to CAM system selection of a real life mould production system. Finally, the robustness of the decision is validated via the sensitivity analysis.
Keywords: Computer aided manufacturing, Axiomatic design, Fuzzy logic, Axiomatic design, Information axiom, decision making