Fuzzy logic-based FMEA robust design: a quantitative approach for robustness against groupthink in group/team decision-making

Abstract

Group/team decision-making is an integral part of almost all failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) projects. A dysfunctional aspect of this decision-making fashion in fuzzy FMEA is that group/team members’ designs for membership functions and IF-THEN rules may be overshadowed by a member’s design. This problem is caused by groupthink, a pitfall known by the Organisational Behaviour science. This study aims to develop a fuzzy FMEA approach which is robust to the problem. We applied the Taguchi’s robust parameter design and investigated the effects of various control parameters namely Defuzzification, Aggregation, And and Implication operators for the fuzzy inference system (FIS). Our experiments illustrate that the control parameters, in the above-mentioned order, have the most effect on the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). These factors’ optimal setting consists of the Centroid, Sum, Minimum and Minimum levels, respectively.

Keywords:

• fuzzy logic
• FMEA
• Taguchi method
• groupthink
• fuzzy inference system