Research Article A Fuzzy Delphi-Analytical Hierarchy Process Approach for Ranking of Effective Material Selection Criteria Sajad Kazemi, 1 Seyed Mahdi Homayouni, 2 and Jay Jahangiri 3 1 Department of Industrial Management, Faculty of Management and Accounting, Qazvin Branch, Islamic Azad University, Qazvin 34185, Iran 2 Department of Industrial Engineering, Lenjan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Zarinshahr, Isfahan 84741, Iran 3 Department of Mathematical Sciences, Kent State University, Burton, OH 44021-9500, USA Correspondence should be addressed to Seyed Mahdi Homayouni; homayouni@iauln.ac.ir Received 19 December 2014; Revised 25 February 2015; Accepted 8 March 2015 Academic Editor: Marjan Bahraminasab Copyright © 2015 Sajad Kazemi et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Te ability to select the most appropriate materials for a given application is the fundamental challenge faced by a design engineer. Te objective of any material selection procedure is to identify appropriate selection criteria and to obtain the most appropriate combination of criteria in conjunction with requirements. Hence, selection of material is a multicriteria decision making problem. Tis study investigates and evaluates critical material selection criteria in a priority framework using the fuzzy Delphi-analytical hierarchy process method to overcome all shortcomings from AHP and Delphi methods that are common in material selection problem. 75 of the most important criteria for material selection have been collected from the literature. Tese criteria have been questioned in automobile interior design frms in Iran for car dashboard design. Tis ranking method would help product designers to decide on appropriate materials in a consistent method. Results indicate that “general” criteria such as availability, quality, risk, and technology are the most important criteria from the viewpoint of Iranian car manufacturers. Other criteria such as fnancial, technical, social and environmental, and sensorial criteria are relatively important in subsequent ranks. 1. Introduction Many countries are moving towards the globalization of their economy in order to achieve lower cost of production and services. Tis trend is seen mostly in status of global produc- tion mostly in Asia and developing countries. Increasing the tendency for industrialization and globalization in develop- ing countries has provided more opportunities for productive industries. On the other hand, these factors have infuenced the environment and increased the environmental pressures on manufacturers [1]. Product design is the most strategic phase to control environmental impact during a product’s life cycle, whereby designers play a signifcant role in reducing environmental impact from selection of materials, manufacturing processes, product usage, and end of life treatment [2]. Designing prod- ucts that are easily recycled will support the efectiveness of the recycling process and thus will prolong material usage and support natural resources preservation. Tis must also be supported by the selection of high recyclable materials [2]. An ever increasing variety of materials is available today with each having its own characteristics, applications, advantages, and limitations [3]. With the availability of a large number of materials and to fulfll the requirements of the manufacturing industries, material selection today became quite a complicated task [4]. Improvement in production performance, reduction in costs, and environmental sensitivity are generally related to the selection of materials [5]. Te complex interrelationships between a variety of materials and their selection criteria frequently make the material selection process a difcult and time consuming task. Hence, a systematic and efcient approach to material selection is necessary in order to select the best alternative for a product [6]. Material selection has great importance in the design and development of products and it is also critical for the success and competitiveness of Hindawi Publishing Corporation Advances in Materials Science and Engineering Volume 2015, Article ID 845346, 12 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/845346