Comparative Analysis of Multicriteria Decision-Making Methods for Bus Washing Process Selection: A Case Study

Water is at the core of sustainable development, and its use for human activities, including vehicle washing, should be done in a sustainable way. There are several technical solutions for washing buses offering different performances, making it difficult to choose the one that best meets the requir...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Paulo Ávila, Alzira Mota, Eliana Oliveira, Hélio Castro, Luís Pinto Ferreira, João Bastos, O. Fernandes Nuno, Joaquim Moreira
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2024-01-01
Series:Journal of Engineering
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2024/2694662
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1832565886620270592
author Paulo Ávila
Alzira Mota
Eliana Oliveira
Hélio Castro
Luís Pinto Ferreira
João Bastos
O. Fernandes Nuno
Joaquim Moreira
author_facet Paulo Ávila
Alzira Mota
Eliana Oliveira
Hélio Castro
Luís Pinto Ferreira
João Bastos
O. Fernandes Nuno
Joaquim Moreira
author_sort Paulo Ávila
collection DOAJ
description Water is at the core of sustainable development, and its use for human activities, including vehicle washing, should be done in a sustainable way. There are several technical solutions for washing buses offering different performances, making it difficult to choose the one that best meets the requirements of each specific case. The literature on the topic hardly analyzes the choice of the best technical solution for washing buses and does not apply and compare the results of different multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) methods for the problem. The unique information available is from the different suppliers in the market. Whereby, this work intends to give a technical-scientific contribution to fulfill this gaps. Therefore, the main objectives of this work are (1) to select the best sustainable technical solutions for washing buses depending on the specific conditions for a case study and (2) to analyze how different multicriteria decision-making methods behave in the selection process. To achieve these objectives, the problem was approached as a case study in a public transport company in Portugal and the methodology followed the next steps: started with the identification of the different types of commercial technical solutions for washing buses; the company’s experts selected four main criteria: water consumption, operating costs, quality of washing, and time spent; the criteria weights were determined using the fuzzy-AHP method; then four representative MCDM methods were selected, namely, AHP, ELECTRE, TOPSIS, and SMART; the ranks obtained for the four methods were compared; and a sensitivity analysis was performed. Considering the input data for the criteria and their weights, the results for all the methods showed that the best and the worst solution was the same, mobile portico with a brush and porticoes with three brushes, respectively. Furthermore, the results of the sensitivity analysis performed with disturbances for the weights of each criterion presented that the results are slightly affected and the similarity in rankings for the four MCDM methods was validated by Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient (rs) and Kendall’s coefficient of concordance (W). Considering these results, the SMART method, the less complex one, showed no difference from the others. For that reason, simple methods, such as SMART, in line with other works in the literature perform well in most cases. As a final remark of this work, it can be said that the methodology employed in this project can also be deemed applicable to other similar companies seeking technical solutions for bus or truck washing. Furthermore, the application of the SMART method, the less complex one and the most understandable for people, showed no difference from the others, being able to be applied in similar situations.
format Article
id doaj-art-cc49aadf78a84abb831050d90447acb7
institution Kabale University
issn 2314-4912
language English
publishDate 2024-01-01
publisher Wiley
record_format Article
series Journal of Engineering
spelling doaj-art-cc49aadf78a84abb831050d90447acb72025-02-03T01:06:26ZengWileyJournal of Engineering2314-49122024-01-01202410.1155/2024/2694662Comparative Analysis of Multicriteria Decision-Making Methods for Bus Washing Process Selection: A Case StudyPaulo Ávila0Alzira Mota1Eliana Oliveira2Hélio Castro3Luís Pinto Ferreira4João Bastos5O. Fernandes Nuno6Joaquim Moreira7ISEP—School of EngineeringISEP—School of EngineeringISEP—School of EngineeringISEP—School of EngineeringISEP—School of EngineeringISEP—School of EngineeringInstituto Politécnico de Castelo BrancoISEP—School of EngineeringWater is at the core of sustainable development, and its use for human activities, including vehicle washing, should be done in a sustainable way. There are several technical solutions for washing buses offering different performances, making it difficult to choose the one that best meets the requirements of each specific case. The literature on the topic hardly analyzes the choice of the best technical solution for washing buses and does not apply and compare the results of different multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) methods for the problem. The unique information available is from the different suppliers in the market. Whereby, this work intends to give a technical-scientific contribution to fulfill this gaps. Therefore, the main objectives of this work are (1) to select the best sustainable technical solutions for washing buses depending on the specific conditions for a case study and (2) to analyze how different multicriteria decision-making methods behave in the selection process. To achieve these objectives, the problem was approached as a case study in a public transport company in Portugal and the methodology followed the next steps: started with the identification of the different types of commercial technical solutions for washing buses; the company’s experts selected four main criteria: water consumption, operating costs, quality of washing, and time spent; the criteria weights were determined using the fuzzy-AHP method; then four representative MCDM methods were selected, namely, AHP, ELECTRE, TOPSIS, and SMART; the ranks obtained for the four methods were compared; and a sensitivity analysis was performed. Considering the input data for the criteria and their weights, the results for all the methods showed that the best and the worst solution was the same, mobile portico with a brush and porticoes with three brushes, respectively. Furthermore, the results of the sensitivity analysis performed with disturbances for the weights of each criterion presented that the results are slightly affected and the similarity in rankings for the four MCDM methods was validated by Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient (rs) and Kendall’s coefficient of concordance (W). Considering these results, the SMART method, the less complex one, showed no difference from the others. For that reason, simple methods, such as SMART, in line with other works in the literature perform well in most cases. As a final remark of this work, it can be said that the methodology employed in this project can also be deemed applicable to other similar companies seeking technical solutions for bus or truck washing. Furthermore, the application of the SMART method, the less complex one and the most understandable for people, showed no difference from the others, being able to be applied in similar situations.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2024/2694662
spellingShingle Paulo Ávila
Alzira Mota
Eliana Oliveira
Hélio Castro
Luís Pinto Ferreira
João Bastos
O. Fernandes Nuno
Joaquim Moreira
Comparative Analysis of Multicriteria Decision-Making Methods for Bus Washing Process Selection: A Case Study
Journal of Engineering
title Comparative Analysis of Multicriteria Decision-Making Methods for Bus Washing Process Selection: A Case Study
title_full Comparative Analysis of Multicriteria Decision-Making Methods for Bus Washing Process Selection: A Case Study
title_fullStr Comparative Analysis of Multicriteria Decision-Making Methods for Bus Washing Process Selection: A Case Study
title_full_unstemmed Comparative Analysis of Multicriteria Decision-Making Methods for Bus Washing Process Selection: A Case Study
title_short Comparative Analysis of Multicriteria Decision-Making Methods for Bus Washing Process Selection: A Case Study
title_sort comparative analysis of multicriteria decision making methods for bus washing process selection a case study
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2024/2694662
work_keys_str_mv AT pauloavila comparativeanalysisofmulticriteriadecisionmakingmethodsforbuswashingprocessselectionacasestudy
AT alziramota comparativeanalysisofmulticriteriadecisionmakingmethodsforbuswashingprocessselectionacasestudy
AT elianaoliveira comparativeanalysisofmulticriteriadecisionmakingmethodsforbuswashingprocessselectionacasestudy
AT heliocastro comparativeanalysisofmulticriteriadecisionmakingmethodsforbuswashingprocessselectionacasestudy
AT luispintoferreira comparativeanalysisofmulticriteriadecisionmakingmethodsforbuswashingprocessselectionacasestudy
AT joaobastos comparativeanalysisofmulticriteriadecisionmakingmethodsforbuswashingprocessselectionacasestudy
AT ofernandesnuno comparativeanalysisofmulticriteriadecisionmakingmethodsforbuswashingprocessselectionacasestudy
AT joaquimmoreira comparativeanalysisofmulticriteriadecisionmakingmethodsforbuswashingprocessselectionacasestudy