Navel selection for rotor spinning denim fabrics using a multi-criteria decision-making process

Selection of navel rotor spinning machine, which influences various quality parameters of the final yarn, is a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem. Different statistical methods have been used in the past to address such kinds of problems. In this work, a suitable navel for denim fabrics was selected by combining two popular MCDM approaches namely, technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solutions (TOPSIS) and analytic hierarchy process (AHP). Ten navels were considered and their performances were evaluated on the basis of seven quality parameters of the produced rotor yarns (50 tex). Relative importance of the yarn quality parameters was evaluated by using AHP method, keeping in mind the requirements of denim fabric. The final ranking of navels was elicited in accordance with the relative closeness value determined by TOPSIS method.