Investigating the reasons for deviations in the ranking results of production lines: Considering the selection of irrelevant alternative indicators

terms such as ‘metric’, ‘performance measure’ and ‘performance indicator’ are usually used as synonyms are utilized for a variety of purposes. Several authors have suggested many performance measures for the analysis of manufacturing systems. One of the most prominent professors in this field is Mr. Fiorenzo Franceschini, whose research results crossing the boundaries of measurement systems design knowledge. In this article, we have tried to collect a valuable collection of his research and present some examples of factory production. an original theory of indicator, showing that measurements can be seen as “special” indicators. here particular attention is dedicated to the condition of ‘uniqueness’. The concept of nonuniqueness of representation by means of indicators is also explained. A set of basic definitions is introduced with the aim of giving a rigorous explanation of the concept of a ‘performance indicator’. The description is supported by practical examples. the representation target can be further specialized, e.g., “identifying the line with the lowest average number of rejected parts, with at least two defects”. also different alternative options in defining indicators will remain; e.g., a possible indicator could not consider the parts produced during a process slowdown/interruption, while another could include them. this is demonstrated that considering Borda’s indicator and Condorcet’s indicator the sensitivity to “irrelevant alternatives” with the addition of another indicator that plays a marginal role, exist. on the other hand, it can be shown that the Condorcet’s method does not necessarily fulfil the property of “transitivity” between alternatives.