Application of selected methods of multicriterial assessment in the selection process of equipment used at the extraction face – case study

Making decisions is a process that involves taking into account n acceptable variants of undertaken actions in view of m adopted assessment criteria and selecting the optimal variant (optimal variants). Due to the number of alternatives being assessed and the number of considered criteria, more and more frequently mathematical methods are used in this process. Basing on the example involving the selection of a mechanized longwall complex, the article presents the application of selected multicriteria methods: in the case of quantitative features – Hellwig's development measure method, and in the case of qualitative features – Promethee II method. In the case of Hellwig's development measure method, equipment variants were interpreted as points w in the multidimensional space, and then the distances between them and the point Po (perfect solution) were determined. In the case of the Promethee II method (discrete multicriteria decision support method), the equipment variants were compared with each other in pairs, which made it possible to determine the so-called net flows Φ(i). The obtained synthetic values mi and Φ(i) allowed to build rankings of equipment variants (objects) and to indicate the optimal variant.