Research on technology selection for construction enterprises based on fuzzy analytic hierarchy process

Technology innovation is essential for today's construction industry. However, construction enterprises are slow in evaluating and selecting new technologies. This paper introduces a fuzzy analytic hierarchy process to accelerate the selection of new technologies. Using this approach, decision-makers are asked to express their opinions on comparative importance of various factors in linguistic terms rather than exact numerical values. These linguistic variable scales are then converted into fuzzy numbers. By aggregating the hierarchy, the preferential weight of each alternative technology is found. The fuzzy appropriate indices of different technologies are then ranked and preferential ranking orders of technologies are found. From the economic evaluation perspective, a fuzzy cash flow analysis is employed. To deal quantitatively with imprecision or uncertainty, cash flows are also modeled as fuzzy numbers. By using this methodology, the ambiguities involved in the assessment data can be effectively represented and processed to assure a more convincing and effective decision-making for construction enterprises.