An AHP based prioritization model for risk evaluation factors in the automotive industry

Due to product variety and modeling structure, the automotive manufacturing process requires state-of-the art production methods that cause a high complexity level in operations which assembly operators work in a mixed-assembly environment. To maintain a competitive advantage, companies should take a different approach that considers the methodologies which ensure excellence in operations. This study aims to identify and prioritize potential risk factors that cause errors and failures by applying the Analytic Hierarchy Process to improve the production quality in a manufacturing process of mixed model assembly lines in the automobile industry. Thus, numerous risk factors under three main categories including human-focused, design and process-driven are discussed in this work. The most important contribution of this study is the application of this methodology to find and rank the risk factors based on their importance in a world-leading automotive company in Turkey.