Would the objective be no more than a “desire” and the performance expression no more than a “feeling”? Some industrial fuzzy illustrations

Abstract This paper deals with conceptual considerations regarding the objective notion as well as the performance expression that is associated with its achievement. The suggested idea is to consider that the way the performance expression is computed depends on what we call the semantics of the objective. By considering that objectives are declared under the form of expected states, by anyone at any moment and with regards to any system, two specific kinds of such objectives will be thus distinguished; the “ desire” -objective on the one hand and the “requirement”-objective on the other hand. Besides, by considering that performance expression identifies the achievement degree of the assigned objective, we will show that this expression will also adopt different semantics. So-called “performance evaluation” and “performance measurement” will thus be distinguished in this context. In order to do this, we will first begin by recalling the essential definitions related to the objective notion, then the ones concerning the performance expression. We will thus show how the fuzzy subsets theory can be used in order to formalise both the desire-objective declaration and the requirement-objective declaration, as well as to compute their respective performance expression. Some industrial illustrations, which are extracted from a hydraulic cylinder manufacturer, will be presented simultaneously with the fuzzy formalisation. At the end of this study, concluding remarks and prospects will be then addressed.