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Byline: R. Venkata Rao, P.J. Pawar, J. Paulo Davim The optimum selection of process parameters is essential for advanced machining processes as these processes incur high initial investment, tooling cost, operating and maintenance cost. This paper presents the results of optimisation of process parameters of mechanical type advanced machining processes using a simulated annealing algorithm. The results obtained are then compared with those obtained using a genetic algorithm. It is observed that simulated annealing algorithm has outperformed the genetic algorithm in the present work.

Byline: R. Venkata Rao A Flexible Manufacturing System (FMS) is designed to combine the efficiency of a mass-production line and the flexibility of a job shop to produce a variety of products on a group of machines. Even though a number of studies were proposed in the past to address the issue of evaluation and selection of FMSs, there is a need for a simple and systematic method to guide user organisations in taking a proper decision. This is considered in this paper using an improved compromise ranking method in conjunction with Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The proposed 'FMS Selection Index' (FMS-SI) evaluates and ranks FMSs for a given FMS selection problem. Two examples are included to illustrate the approach.

Byline: R. Venkata Rao The performance of the vendor is a key element in a company's success or failure. In order to attain the goals of low cost, consistent high quality, flexibility and quick response, companies have increasingly considered better vendor selection approaches. The overall goal of selection is to identify high-potential vendors and their quota allocations. An effective and appropriate vendor selection method is therefore very crucial to the competitiveness of companies. This paper presents a logical procedure for solving the vendor selection problem in a supply chain environment with multiple objectives. The procedure is based on a combined Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and a Genetic Algorithm (GA) method. The proposed procedure has the capability to handle realistic situations and provides a decision-making tool for the vendor selection decision in a supply chain. An example is included to illustrate the approach.

Byline: R. Venkata Rao Flexible Manufacturing Cells (FMCs) represent a class of highly automated systems. The increased importance of these highly automated manufacturing systems to the survival of modern industries has resulted in increasing research efforts that address the many issues inherent in flexible manufacturing. One of the key issues is the problem of machine group selection in a FMC. Even though precision-based methods such as Multi-Attribute Decision-Making (MADM) methods, expert systems, neural networks, goal-programming methods, fuzzy algorithms, genetic algorithms, simulated annealing, etc. had been proposed in the past, these methods are knowledge-intensive, complicated, require more computation and may go beyond the capabilities of the real decision maker (i.e. user organisation). Hence, this paper presents a simple, systematic and logical methodology for machine group selection in a FMC using digraph and matrix methods. A Machine Group Selection Index (MGSI) is proposed, which evaluates and ranks machine groups for a given machine group selection problem. A step-by-step procedure for evaluation of MGSI is suggested. The unique feature of the proposed methodology is that it offers a general procedure that can be used for any type of selection problem involving any number of selection attributes. An example is included to illustrate the approach.

Byline: G. Karuppusami, R. Gandhinathan, R. Venkata Rao This paper presents a methodology to benchmark the quality-related action programmes and critical success factors of Strategic Quality Management (SQM) for manufacturing industries using the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) approach. The expert committee constituted for this research project identified 27 organisation performance requirements. The required quality-related action programmes to achieve the identified organisation performance requirements were obtained by adopting QFD methodology. Eleven SQM critical success factors were derived by grouping the similar quality-related action programmes. The QFD matrix was constructed with the organisation performance requirements as 'Whats' and the quality-related action programmes as 'Hows'. Finally, the critical success factors and the quality-related action programmes were benchmarked by their corresponding importance weight factors. A case study was presented to illustrate the methodology.