The motivation of this thesis is to perform research in the arena of discrete tradeoff analysis. There are two fundamental aspects to the problem domain to be be studied. The first involves modeling the manner in which the user quantifies the relative merits of alternative solutions. This requires creating a graphical user interface that presents the solution in an easily understandable form. The second aspect of this research involves structuring the interaction between the optimization model and the user interface.

The research was conducted within the context of a manufacturing application that is centered on the optimization of product and process design. In addition to designing the overall system, the essential design activities revolve around building the graphical user interface necessary to present the tradeoff solutions as well as the interface that will permit the user to interact with the optimization algorithm.