Author Description

Fuzzy set approaches always seem to be most appropriate when the modeling of human knowledge is necessary. This also happens when human evaluations are needed, in decision making, in project planning, in production control, in organizational design, and whenever interfaces between human users and computers have to be designed. Until recently these interfaces had to be implemented using digital hardware. Lately however, fuzzy chips and fuzzy computers have been developed; these will soon provide for efficient fuzzy on-line control. Industrial engineering is an area full of potential applications for fuzzy set theory. The appearance of this book marks the first introductory text of its kind dedicated to this area. The editors have combined contributions from world renowned experts on the various topics covered such as: traditional industrial engineering techniques; ergonomics; safety engineering; human performance measurement; man-machine systems and fuzzy methodologies. Accordingly, the book contains papers on the major areas of industrial engineering to which fuzzy set theory can contribute. These areas are the traditional industrial engineering functions such as: locational analysis; job shop scheduling; financial planning; project management; data analysis; and fuzzy control of industrial processes (one of the most advanced applications of fuzzy sets). The book also examines human factors modeling and organizational design, and, of course, fuzzy set applications in operations research and decision analysis. Fuzzy set theory has been applied in all of the aforementioned areas, and to a certain degree these approaches have already been implemented in practice and proven to perform well, especially for fuzzy control. The present volume will provide valuable reading for students, practitioners and scientists working in industrial engineering.