Multicriteria and Multiobjective Models for Risk, Reliability and Maintenance Decision Analysis

This book integrates multiple criteria concepts and methods for problems within the Risk, Reliability and Maintenance (RRM) context. The concepts and foundations related to RRM are considered for this integration with multicriteria approaches. In the book, a general framework for building decision models is presented and this is illustrated in various chapters by discussing many different decision models related to the RRM context. The scope of the book is related to ways of how to integrate Applied Probability and Decision Making. In Applied Probability, this mainly includes: decision analysis and reliability theory, amongst other topics closely related to risk analysis and maintenance. In Decision Making, it includes a broad range of topics in MCDM (Multi-Criteria Decision Making) and MCDA (Multi-Criteria Decision Aiding; also known as Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis). In addition to decision analysis, some of the topics related to Mathematical Programming area are briefly considered, such as multiobjective optimization, since methods related to these topics have been applied to the context of RRM.

The book addresses an innovative treatment for the decision making in RRM, thereby improving the integration of fundamental concepts from the areas of both RRM and decision making. This is accomplished by presenting an overview of the literature on decision making in RRM. Some pitfalls of decision models when applying them to RRM in practice are discussed and guidance on overcoming these drawbacks is offered. The procedure enables multicriteria models to be built for the RRM context, including guidance on choosing an appropriate multicriteria method for a particular problem faced in the RRM context. The book also includes many research advances in these topics. Most of the multicriteria decision models that are described are specific applications that have been influenced by this research and the advances in this field.

Multicriteria and Multiobjective Models for Risk, Reliability and Maintenance Decision Analysis is implicitly structured in three parts, with 12 chapters. The first part deals with MCDM/A concepts methods and decision processes. The second part presents the main concepts and foundations of RRM. Finally the third part deals with specific decision problems in the RRM context approached with MCDM/A models.

Adiel Teixeira de Almeida is Full Professor of management engineering at Universidade Federal de Pernambuco and founding coordinator of the CDSID (Center for Decision Systems and Information Development). Before his current position, he worked in business organizations as engineer and manager, including project manager and program manager of R&D projects. He holds a PhD in management engineering from The University of Birmingham, UK. He has a Grant for Productivity in Research from the Brazilian NRC (CNPq) and his interests are in decision-making related to multiple objectives and group decision problems, which includes methodological issues and applications. Also, he has been working as a consultant and with R&D projects for private and public organizations, where he has applied decision models in many contexts, such as: risk analysis, reliability and maintenance, project portfolio, project management, strategic modeling, outsourcing, information systems, supply chain and water management. He authored or co-author several scientific papers in reviewed journals related to a variety of topics such as: Operational Research, Group Decision, Decision Systems, MCDM/A (Multicriteria Decision Making and Aid), Risk, Reliability, Maintenance, Safety, Quality, and Water Resources. He serves on the editorial board of management and engineering scholarly journals, such as: Group Decision and Negotiation, IMA Journal of Management Mathematics and Journal of Quality and Reliability Engineering. He has been an active member of the main societies related to Operational Research, Group Decision, MCDM/A, Risk, Reliability and Maintenance topics.

Cristiano Alexandre Virgínio Cavalcante is Associate Professor at the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE), at the management engineering department. He obtained his PhD in 2005 from the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco for work on Multicriteria Decision Models to Support Maintenance Problems. He has a Grant for Productivity in Research from the Brazilian NRC (CNPq). He has published more than 20 articles on multicriteria decision models, maintenance and Reliability modeling in Reliability Engineering and System Safety, European Journal of Operational Research, IEEE Transactions on Reliability, International Journal of Production Economics, IMA Journal of Management Mathematics, Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering, Mathematical Problems in Engineering, International Journal, Advanced Manufacturing Technology and others. His research interests include maintenance policies, and Multi-Criteria Decision Support. He is the coordinator of the RANDOM (Research Group on Risk and Decision Analysis in Operations and Maintenance) and a researcher at CDSID.

Marcelo Hazin Alencar is Assistant Professor of the management engineering department, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco. He received his BSc in Civil engineering from the Universidade de Pernambuco and the MSc and PhD degree in Management Engineering from the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco. He is a researcher at CDSID and RANDOM. He is involved in research in the areas of Risk Analysis, Risk Management, Maintenance Management, Reliability and MCDM/A modeling. He is author or co-author of dozen of scientific papers in reviewed journals and book chapters.

Rodrigo José Pires Ferreira is Assistant Professor of management engineering department, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE). He received the BSc and MSc degrees in Management engineering from UFPE. He received the PhD in Management engineering from UFPE, in 2008. He is a researcher at the CDSID and RANDOM. His research interests includes multicriteria decision aiding, multiobjective optimization, maintenance optimization, condition monitoring and fault diagnosis, reliability modeling and manufacturing system modeling and planning. He has authored some scientific papers in journals, such as Reliability Engineering & Systems and IMA Journal of Management Mathematics.

Adiel Teixeira de Almeida-Filho is currently an Assistant Professor of management engineering at Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE). He has been a visiting researcher at the University of Southampton. He is a researcher at the CDSID and RANDOM. Dr. de Almeida-Filho has published in journals such as Production and Operations Management, IMA Journal of Management Mathematics, 4OR and others. He has research projects funded by the Brazilian NRC (CNPq) and has a research Grant for Productivity in Research from the Brazilian NRC (CNPq).

Thalles Vitelli Garcez is currently an Assistant Professor in the management engineering at the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco. He received his PhD in Management Engineering from the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, in 2013. He is a researcher at the CDSID and RANDOM. His research interests include safety engineering, management risk, reliability, maintenance and multicriteria decision analysis. He has published in journals such as Reliability Engineering & System Safety and IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery.