Agricultural Tractor Selection: A Hybrid and Multi-Attribute Approach

Jorge L. García-Alcaraz, Aidé A. Maldonado-Macías, Juan L. Hernández-Arellano, Julio Blanco-Fernández, Emilio Jiménez-Macías and Juan C. Sáenz-Díez Muro
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Jorge L. García-Alcaraz: Department of Industrial Engineering and Manufacturing, Autonomous University of Ciudad Juarez, Del Charro Ave. 450 N., Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua 32310, Mexico
Aidé A. Maldonado-Macías: Department of Industrial Engineering and Manufacturing, Autonomous University of Ciudad Juarez, Del Charro Ave. 450 N., Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua 32310, Mexico
Juan L. Hernández-Arellano: Department of Industrial Engineering and Manufacturing, Autonomous University of Ciudad Juarez, Del Charro Ave. 450 N., Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua 32310, Mexico
Julio Blanco-Fernández: Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, University of La Rioja, San José de Calasanz 31, Logroño, La Rioja 26004, Spain
Emilio Jiménez-Macías: Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, University of La Rioja, San José de Calasanz 31, Logroño, La Rioja 26004, Spain
Juan C. Sáenz-Díez Muro: Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, University of La Rioja, San José de Calasanz 31, Logroño, La Rioja 26004, Spain

Sustainability, 2016, vol. 8, issue 2, 1-16

Abstract: Usually, agricultural tractor investments are assessed using traditional economic techniques that only involve financial attributes, resulting in reductionist evaluations. However, tractors have qualitative and quantitative attributes that must be simultaneously integrated into the evaluation process. This article reports a hybrid and multi-attribute approach to assessing a set of agricultural tractors based on AHP-TOPSIS. To identify the attributes in the model, a survey including eighteen attributes was given to agricultural machinery salesmen and farmers for determining their importance. The list of attributes was presented to a decision group for a case of study, and their importance was estimated using AHP and integrated into the TOPSIS technique. In this case, one tractor was selected from a set of six alternatives, integrating six attributes in the model: initial cost, annual maintenance cost, liters of diesel per hour, safety of the operator, maintainability and after-sale customer service offered by the supplier. Based on the results obtained, the model can be considered easy to apply and to have good acceptance among farmers and salesmen, as there are no special software requirements for the application.

Keywords: agricultural modernization; investment in tractors; multicriteria and multi-attribute selection models (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:8:y:2016:i:2:p:157-:d:63591

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