A Fuzzy Impact-Matrix Method for Evaluating Impacting Factors in Manufacturing

As performance of processes in a manufacturing system determines the quality of product, the factors that have effects on the processes need to be taken into account to guarantee the product quality during manufacturing. As impacting factors’ effects are usually qualitatively described and hence result in difficulties of quantifying and evaluating, this paper proposes organizing a group of experts to evaluate the effects of the impacting factors and applying a fuzzy Impact-Matrix method to quantify the evaluation results. The proposed method provides engineers with a general perspective to identify important impacting factors and thus facilitates the control of processes.