A Multicriteria Decision-Making Application to the Conceptual Design of Mechanical Components

Early design is crucial for the success of the final product. In the conceptual design phase, several constraints, criteria, objectives and disciplines have to be considered. To this aim, multidisciplinary optimization has proven effective for the solution of engineering design problems, even in the industrial every‐day practice, to improve and simplify the work of designers in a successful quest of the best compromise solution. In this paper, a multicriteria decision‐making (MCDM)‐based design platform for early optimal design of industrial components is proposed. In a group decision‐making context, the selection of the most suitable component among several possible layouts is performed by means of a group Fuzzy Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution approach. Hence, a multi‐objective optimization is performed on the selected component by applying a multi‐objective particle swarm optimization for finding optimal component dimensions. An industrial case study is presented for showing the efficiency of the multicriteria decision‐making‐based design platform, regarding an innovative and low‐cost solution to increase the duration of heel tips in women's shoes. Copyright 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.