Decision support system for plant location analysis based on fuzzy model

Localization analysis of an industrial plant is one of the most important decisional steps of design process. In fact, even if this process is developed only once during the life cycle of the plant, it plays a fundamental role on the survival possibility of the company in the long term. The choice for a new factory positioning, on the basis of a choice of the industrial activity to realize, is generally preceded by four design phases: • definition of plant layout and its development plan; • definition of needing and requirements for communication accesses and connection with service plants; • determination of energy resources quantities; • check of safety and environmental condition of the industrial processes in the community, to best avoid the significant impacts. The article presents the implementation of a decision support system to locate a general industrial plant, when the common language in many cases seems sufficient to describe the information that derives from the observation of the physical world and social or economic situation. The objective is to introduce fuzzy logic in territorial multiple criteria models, integrating representations of complexity and inaccuracy of available data and information.