Interval type-2 fuzzy program evaluation and review technique for project management in shipbuilding

Abstract

Ship production occurs at the end of a complex process and needs effective and efficient Project Management (PM). Uncertainty in project management parameters always exists and is inevitable. The Fuzzy Set Theory is capable of capturing uncertainty through the membership functions of the parameters. We proposed a model of Interval Type-2 Fuzzy Sets (IT2FSs) Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) method to literature and applied this to the production scheduling of an electric yacht to study this proposed method in terms of PM in the shipbuilding industry. The proposed model contains Forward Pass and Backward Pass calculations for IT2FPERT with a new ranking method, and a Slack Time calculation for IT2FPERT, which develops a Criticality Degree (CD) on the possible path for IT2FPERT and determines the Critical Path. Robustness tests of the proposed model were carried out by comparing results to the Critical Path Method (CPM), PERT, and PERT Simulation solutions.