148 Int. J. Applied Decision Sciences, Vol. 4, No. 2, 2011 Copyright © 2011 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Analytical hierarchy process for the selection of advanced manufacturing technology in an aircraft industry Zahari Taha, Zahra Banakar and Farzad Tahriri* Centre for Product Design and Manufacturing (CPDM), Manufacturing Department, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia E-mail: ztr.motion@googlemail.com E-mail: Najma_Banakar@yahoo.com E-mail: Farzad_Tahriri@Hotmail.com *Corresponding author Abstract: It has often been said that the strength of any country resides in the strength of its industrial sector and progress in industrial society has been accomplished by the creation of new technologies. The implementation of advanced manufacturing technology (AMT) requires careful planning at all levels of the organisation to ensure that the implementation will achieve the intended goals considering the multiple criteria. An appropriate multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM) can be used in order to evaluate and compare new technologies. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) has the ability to structure complex, multi-person, multi-attribute and multi-period problems hierarchically. In this paper, a decision-making model is proposed for AMT evaluation and selection. This strategic decision-making model is based on both tangible and intangible criteria and uses the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) approach. Finally, the model was tested in a case study of an aircraft company in Malaysia. Keywords: analytical hierarchy process; AHP; AMT selection; Malaysia; advanced manufacturing technology; AMT. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Taha, Z., Banakar, Z. and Tahriri, F. (2011) ‘Analytical hierarchy process for the selection of advanced manufacturing technology in an aircraft industry’, Int. J. Applied Decision Sciences, Vol. 4, No. 2, pp.148–170. Biographical notes: Zahari Taha is a Professor in Faculty of Manufacturing Engineering, University Malaysia Pahang (UMP), Malaysia and the Director of Centre for Product Design and Manufacture (CPDM), in the Department of Engineering Design and Manufacture, University Malaya (UM), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He was a Research Fellow in the Design Engineering Research Center, University of Wales Institute Cardiff in 1995–1998, a Professor from 2000–2007 at the University Malaya and is a Senior Professor since 2008. His research interests are in decoupled control of robots and manufacturing design. He is a member of academic societies such as: The Institution of Engineering Designers, where he is a corporate member since 2001; The Engineering Council UK, as a corporate member since 2001; Academy of Sciences Malaysia, as a Fellow in 2008 and Asia Pacific Industrial Engineering and Management Society, Board.