Prioritization of textile fabric defects using ordered weighted averaging operator

Prioritizing and ranking products’ defects are important decision-making problems in many manufacturing sectors. This paper proposes a methodology for ranking defects based on the ordered weighted averaging (OWA) operator. The power of the proposed approach stems from its ability to rank defects with no restriction on the application context and no limitation on the number and type of variables used. Using a case study from the textile manufacturing industry, three OWA weights generating models have been implemented and it is shown that the OWA-based ranking approach is technically robust and practically flexible as a support for decision-making.