The use of grey relational analysis in solving multiple attribute decision-making problems

There are many cases in daily life and in the workplace which pose a decision problem. Some of them involve picking the best from among multiple available alternatives. However, no single alternative works best for all performance attributes. This research proposes a multiple attribute decision making (MADM) method, grey relational analysis (GRA), for solving this kind of problem. Two cases, facility layout and dispatching rules selection problem, which have been analyzed by data envelopment analysis (DEA), were also analyzed using the GRA procedure, in order to illustrate the use of GRA. In the case of the facility layout problem, 18 alternative layouts and 6 performance attributes were considered. In the case of the problem of selecting dispatching rules, 9 alternatives dispatching rules and 7 performance attributes were considered. For the two cases examined, the results of comparisons show that GRA is efficient for solving MADM problem. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.