Análise de investimentos em AMT (advanced manufacturing technology): uso de um modelo multicriterial - AHP (analytic hierarchy process)

Abstract

The analysis of investment in Advanced Manufacturing Technologies (AMT) is a process of strategic decision, due to the competitive potential that these technologies represent when they provide the companies with a range of tangible and intangible benefits. However, given the complexity of the related variables, the risk and the high cost of the investment; the methods of financial evaluation, used traditionally, are insufficient to capture the innumerous strategic benefits provided by suchtechnologies, which leads, in some cases, to incoherent results and theabandonment of the investment. Herewith, this work presents a model of multicriterial decision to justify the investments in manufacturing technologies. The implementation of the model was accomplished using the AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) method, aiming at considering, together, the tangible and intangible aspects associated with this type of investment. The AHP method was applied through a case study in a supply company of the automobile trade. A framework was proposedfor the conduction and diagnosis of the productive scenery in order to investigate the adequacy of a determined AMT to the manufacturing strategy of the company, relating the existent resources and industrial capacities and the requirements of the market. The result of the research proves the generality and the potential of the model as a decision making tool for the process of justifying the investments in manufacturing technologies. The demonstration of the method's applicability contributes academically and professionally to the ones interested in the matter.