A Fuzzy-based Group Decision-making Approach for Supplier Selection

Abstract

Nowadays, proper supplier selection is a very important strategic concern in any supply chain management. Due to vagueness, ambiguity, and imprecise information regarding alternative suppliers with a constantly varying nature of selection criteria, proper decision-making becomes challenging. This chapter applies a fuzzy multiple-criteria homogeneous group decision-making process for performance evaluation and selection of suppliers in supply chain management (SCM). In this method, a homogeneous decision-making committee is formed to assess the alternatives and the criteria weight in terms of raw linguistic expression. These linguistic expressions are converted into equivalent triangular fuzzy numbers. Normalization of performance ratings is carried out, and a weighted normalized performance rating is determined by combining the rating and their respective weights. Fuzzy multi-objective optimization by ratio analysis (FMOORA) and fuzzy gray theory (FGT) methods are independently employed to calculate the net score and gray relation grade for each alternative to provide appropriate decision-making. A suitable numerical example is chosen for illustration of the approach. A comparative study on the results is conducted, and the best supplier is selected. The study indicates the applicability and effectiveness of the approach enunciated in the chapter.