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The Analytic
Hierarchy Process
1
Overview of the AHP
1. Set up decision hierarchy
2. Make pairwise comparisons of attributes
and alternatives
3. Transform comparisons into weights and
check consistency
4. Use weights to obtain scores for options
5. Carry out sensitivity analysis
2
A hierarchy for the packaging
machine problem
3
Scale for pairwise comparisons
equally important
weakly more important
strongly more important
very strongly more important
extremely more important
(1)
(3)
(5)
(7)
(9)
4
Comparing importance of costs and
quality
5
Comparing importance of quality
attributes
6
Comparing the machines for purchase
cost
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Weights for the packaging machine
problem
8
Scores for the three machines
Aztec
0.255
Barton
0.541
Congress 0.204
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Strengths of the AHP
• Formal structuring of the decision
problem
• Simplicity of pairwise comparisons
• Redundancy allows consistency to be
checked
• Versatilty
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Criticisms of the ‘standard’ AHP
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Conversion from verbal to numeric scale
Problems of 1 to 9 scale
Meaningfulness of responses to questions
New alternatives can reverse the rank of
existing alternatives
• No. of comparisons required may be large
• Axioms of the method
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