The application of fuzzy Delphi and fuzzy inference system in supplier ranking and selection

Abstract

In today's highly rival market, an effective supplier selection process is vital to the success of any manufacturing system. Selecting the appropriate supplier is always a difficult task because suppliers posses varied strengths and weaknesses that necessitate careful evaluations prior to suppliers' ranking. This is a complex process with many subjective and objective factors to consider before the benefits of supplier selection are achieved. This paper identifies six extremely critical criteria and thirteen sub-criteria based on the literature. A new methodology employing those criteria and sub-criteria is proposed for the assessment and ranking of a given set of suppliers. To handle the subjectivity of the decision maker's assessment, an integration of fuzzy Delphi with fuzzy inference system has been applied and a new ranking method is proposed for supplier selection problem. This supplier selection model enables decision makers to rank the suppliers based on three classifications including ''extremely preferred'', ''moderately preferred'', and ''weakly preferred''. In addition, in each classification, suppliers are put in order from highest final score to the lowest. Finally, the methodology is verified and validated through an example of a numerical test bed.

Delphi Method Supported by Forecasting Software

“…The values (a, b, c) can be interpreted as the smallest, most probable, and highest. Sometimes in order to use the fuzzy Delphi method, other membership functions are used, e.g., the trapezoidal membership function [20] or functions, which are appropriately matched to the issue [21]. The use of the triangular membership function affects the simplicity and transparency of the discussed modification of the Delphi method.…”

"Building Information Modelling Execution in Administrative and Commercial Spaces in Iran – A Fuzzy-Delphi Criteria Prioritization "

“…Eq. 1 A number of reports exist in the literature for the effective application of the fuzzy-Delphi methodology for making sustainable decisions in various scientific fields (Hsu et al, 2010;Sánchez-Lezama et al, 2014;Tahriri and Mousavi, 2014). In the present study, the fuzzy-Delphi method was used in order to distinguish the criteria and sub-criteria affecting the implementation of BIM in the AEC industry and, afterwards, we attemped to rank these criteria from the most effective to least ones.…”

Web Service Component Reusability Evaluation: A Fuzzy Multi-Criteria Approach

“…The values of linguistic variables for weights and rating are adopted form [22] and [23]. These papers used same representation.…”