Applying Hybrid Approach of AHP, DEMATEL, and TOPSIS to Study the Impact of Multiagent Technology on the Performance of Manufacturing Organizations

The current research aims to analyze the impact of multiagent technology (MAT) on the performance of manufacturing organizations by using a hybrid approach of analytical hierarchy process (AHP), decision making trial evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL), and technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) to enhance the process quality while reducing maintenance costs. Extant literature helps to identify five factors and twenty-one variables of MAT, which are used to construct the conceptual domain of MAT. The article uses data collected from different manufacturing sectors. Then, integration of AHP, DEMATEL, and TOPSIS is applied to the collected data in which AHP is used to construct the hierarchical structure to quantify the relative relevance and ranking of variables of MAT (local and global rank); DEMATEL is used to detect direct and indirect interaction between these variables and determine the interrelationship among them; and TOPSIS is used for comparison of the global ranking of variables of MAT evaluated through AHP. The AHP approach assigns the most significant weight to “integration of manufacturing systems with maintenance,” followed by fault detection, manufacturing process, organizational productivity, and organizational control. DEMATEL, on the other hand, considers “integration of manufacturing system with maintenance” to be the most influential factor in its group, and causal and effect behavior demonstrates that organizational productivity and organizational control are influenced by others. Finally, the cross-examination of TOPSIS concludes that most variables obtained the same ranking as computed through AHP. The implication scope of the article indicates that the performance of manufacturing organizations can be enhanced by utilizing MAT and its dimensions in a customized manner.