Application of integrated AHP and TOPSIS techniques for determining the best Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFB)

Abstract

This study covers the importance of high quality of palm oil Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFB) to ensure high production in palm oil industry. The most important process to classify the palm oil FFB ripeness is the grading process. Usually, the grading process performed by some graders in each mill manually. However, this method takes time and may lead to errors in the classification process, especially if the graders have less experience. Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and TOPSIS are the useful tools that can be employed to make decisions in classification process. The methodology in this study consists of five phases ie; data collection from expert grader and industries visited, identifying the most important criteria, analysis by AHP method, validation by TOPSIS technique and finally the ranking of the best criteria of high quality FFB. The Expert Choice Software and Microsoft Office Excel are tools used to analyze the data collected from expert graders in the AHP and TOPSIS techniques. The main objective of this study is to determine the best quality of FFB using AHP and TOPSIS techniques. The result found that the number of detached fruitlets is the most important criteria to determine the FFB ripeness with 0.560 priority vector followed by color with 0.219 priority vector compared to other criteria. The sensitivity analysis performed to ensure the results are consistent and reliable. It will help the graders to conduct a proper grading process at mills to increase the quality of OER.