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Supplier selection using axiomatic fuzzy set and TOPSIS methodology in supply chain management

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Abstract

The current paper presents a comprehensive methodology for supplier selection. In the first stage, the linguistic values expressed as trapezoidal fuzzy numbers are used to assess the weights of the criteria. The Axiomatic Fuzzy Set clustering (AFS) method, which handles ambiguity and fuzziness in the supplier selection problem effectively, is applied to cluster the suppliers and evaluate each potential supplier that aims at obtaining initial supplier ranking. In the second stage, the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) model is constructed to determine the weight of various quantitative and qualitative criteria. To address multiple decision criteria in supplier ranking, the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) is employed to select the final suppliers. A numerical example composed of 30 suppliers and 6 criteria is studied, and the experimental results show that the proposed evaluation framework is suitable for supplier selection decisions even with the dependent criteria/attributes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Transportation Management College, Dalian Maritime University, Dalian, 116026, People’s Republic of China

    Ye Li, Xiaodong Liu & Yan Chen

  2. School of Electronic and Information Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116024, People’s Republic of China

    Ye Li & Xiaodong Liu

Authors
  1. Ye Li
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  2. Xiaodong Liu
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  3. Yan Chen
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Correspondence to Ye Li.

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Li, Y., Liu, X. & Chen, Y. Supplier selection using axiomatic fuzzy set and TOPSIS methodology in supply chain management. Fuzzy Optim Decis Making 11, 147–176 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10700-012-9117-x

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