Application of Fuzzy Assignment Model in the Construction Industry

Abstract

The construction industry needs an efficacious decision making at various stages as huge financial investments are admitted. The assignment model is a very effective tool for decision making in various fields. Therefore, it can also be used in the construction industry for optimum utilization of resources, especially construction materials. This study seeks to solve the problem of material supplier allocation in case of uncertainties like availability issues and cost fluctuations. The study presents a fuzzy assignment model for assigning the suppliers to a construction project to minimize the cost. The application is demonstrated by considering four cases pertaining to a construction project. Each fuzzy cost is considered as a triangular fuzzy number. According to Jahirhussain and Jayaraman (2013) , Robust's ranking technique is used to defuzzify the triangular fuz zy numbers to get crisp numbers. The optimal allocation is obtained using the Hungarian method. The implementation of the fuzzy assignment model resulted in a substantial cost reduction in the construction project. In the end, a comparison is presented for the cost of materials obtained with and without the use of the fuzzy assignment model.