Enhancing the design of air cargo transportation services via an integrated fuzzy approach

Abstract

This study presents an integrated fuzzy approach to service process design for air cargo transportation. Fuzzy Set Theory (FST), Balanced Scorecard (BSC), and Theory of Constraints (TOC) are integrated to ensure that the internal process design satisfies the requirements of employees, shareholders and customers. This integrated approach is constructed in three stages. During the first stage, the strategies, strategic objectives, and key performance indicators (KPIs) of the company are developed through the conceptual framework of BSC. During the second stage, the initiator's actions are developed via the five logic tools of TOC. Furthermore, in the third stage, through the integration of BSC and TOC with fuzzy quality function deployment (QFD), KPIs and the initiator's actions were transformed into the design requirements and the technical requirements. Finally, the house of quality (HOQ) was established to design the service process of air cargo transportation based on fuzzy QFD.

Keywords:

• air cargo transportation
• fuzzy quality function deployment
• Fuzzy Set Theory (FST)
• Balanced Scorecard (BSC)
• Theory of Constraints (TOC)

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Taiwan Air Cargo Terminal Logistics and China Engineering Consultants, Inc. for financially supporting this research under Contract No. CECI (2002) 002326.