Development of a decision-support system to use in manufacturing process selection problem

Developments in the capabilities of the manufacturing processes increased the number of processes that can produce any part within the part?s requirements. Increased number of processes forced the factories develop systematic process selection procedures instead of depending on expertise of machine operators. In this thesis, such a process selection decision support system, which is named PROSEÇ in turkish, is developed. The developed selection program eliminates the unsuitable processes step by step by determining whether a process can produce the part?s specified shape, material, thickness, vs. and presents the most economical process as the most appropriate process. The process selection support system is limited to iron and steel materials only. The program is written in Visual Studios 2008 and a database is also incorporated within the program. The developed decision support system is tested and it can be concluded that such a program is a very useful support tool for decision makers.