The JHE method has been recently proposed as an approximation to the vertex method for solving the fuzzy weighted average problem. In this study, the usefulness of the JHE method is demonstrated via illustrative examples to be rather restricted and in practice cannot be regarded as an efficient alternative to the vertex method. The appropriateness of the JHE method only appears at the situation where the number of criteria exceeds 11 and the exactness of the solution is not a primary concern. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.