Decision support tool for justifying alternative manufacturing and production control systems

This paper presents a decision support tool which has been designed to use an integrated approach to assist decision makers choose the best alternative manufacturing and production systems in a given situation. This approach includes economic, analytic and strategic justification, making use of the benefits provided by each method to compensate for any drawbacks that may arise from using any individual method in isolation. Results from the approach present a better understanding of each system and make it possible to evaluate their true worth.