Application of data envelopment for technical efficiency analysis of the electrohydraulic forming process using the aluminum alloy sheets for automotive panels

Abstract

Presently, there exists a dearth of useful practical guidance on the operational efficiency of electrohydraulic forming setups for industrial applications. Despite the increasing demand for efficient operations by managers, the deployment of technical efficiency methods has not been contemplated to distinguish elements of the process that should be given more attention than others distinguished by performance. Consequently, this article proposes an application of data envelopment analysis to practical experimental data obtained from the literature for improved performance. As a platform for analysis, the DEAP 2 application software is deployed to examine the major parameters of the process, namely the stand-off distance (SOD), electrode, voltage and medium while the peak strain is considered as the output. Based on the structure of the problem, the technical efficiency of the process was broken into nine firms. Results indicate that the technical efficiency of forms 1 to 9 is 0.817, 1-000, 1.000, 1.000, 1.000, 0.692, 1.000, 0.613, and 0.532, respectively. The mean efficiency is then 0.850. Furthermore, the mean input slacks for the SOD, electrode, voltage and medium parameters are 1.531, 3.620, 3.027 and 0.049, respectively. Besides, the peers for firms 1 to 9 are (5, 2), 2, 3, 4, 5, (7,5), 7, (5,4), and (7,5), respectively. In addition, the peer weights were attained for firms 1 to 9 as (0.272, 0.272), 1.000, 1.000, 1.000, 1.000, (0.369, 0.138), 1.000, (0.369, 0.138), 1.000 (0.002, 0517), and (0.0099, 0363), respectively. The work is useful in developing operational policies, which contribute to the sustainability of the process.