Multi criteria supplier selection using fuzzy PROMETHEE method

The fundamental objective of supply chain management (SCM) is to integrate various suppliers to satisfy market demand. Supplier evaluation and selection is very important for establishing an effective supply chain. As a matter of fact, supplier selection consists of both qualitative and quantitative criteria, so it is considered as a multi criteria decision making (MCDM) problem. Under incomplete or uncertain information, the fuzzy set theory allows us make decisions with approximate reasoning. In order to overcome the uncertainty which is constituted by vague situations in supplier selection, we utilize the "extension of the PROMETHEE method in a fuzzy environment" (F-PROMETHEE). In this chapter, multi criteria supplier selection based on a fuzzy PROMETHEE method with an application to supplier selection decision problem is conducted. The main advantages of the methodology are the user friendliness coming from the linguistic evaluations, and the consideration of the vagueness or fuzziness inherent to the decision making environment. Hence, the method can be an efficient and effective methodology to be used by decision makers on supply chains. The proposed methodology can also be applied to any other selection problem.