Expert Systems with Applications 38 (2011) 272280

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Expert Systems with Applications

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/eswa

Application of fuzzy analytic network process for supplier selection

in a manufacturing organisation
S. Vinodh *, R. Anesh Ramiya, S.G. Gautham
Department of Production Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli 620 015, Tamil Nadu, India

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Keywords:
Supply chain management
Supplier selection
Analytic network process
Fuzzy analytic network process
Sensitivity analysis

a b s t r a c t
The contemporary manufacturing organisations are forced to adopt advanced manufacturing paradigms
for sustaining in the global markets. Supply chain management is an essential ingredient of advanced
manufacturing systems since outsourcing gains vital importance. Supplier selection is a vital issue concerned in the process of managing global supply chains. A conceptual model for supplier selection
encompassing various criteria and sub-criteria has been developed. In this article, fuzzy analytic network
process (fuzzy ANP) approach has been used for the supplier selection process. The case study has been
carried out in an Indian electronics switches manufacturing company. Based on supplier selection
weighted index, the best supplier has been determined. This is followed by the conduct of sensitivity
analysis as well as questionnaire-based validation. The results of the validation study indicated that
the application of fuzzy ANP is practically feasible and adaptable in the contemporary industrial scenario.
2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Increasing competition has been forcing the manufacturing
organisation to respond to dynamic demands of the customers
(Cater, 2005). Contemporary manufacturing paradigms such as
Agile Manufacturing demand the concept of outsourcing by adopting the principles of supply chain management (Gunasekaran, Lai,
& Cheng, 2008). Supply chain encompasses all activities associated
with the ow and transformation of goods from the raw material
stage through to the end user as well as the associated information
ows. Supply chain focuses on the improvement of customer service, protability and business performance. Strategic partnership
with better suppliers needs to be formed to improve quality, exibility as well as to reduce lead time. Supplier selection is a crossfunctional group decision making problem ensuring long-term
commitment for the organisation. The problem of supplier selection is a multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) problem in the
presence of many criteria and sub-criteria. A decision maker needs
to make use one of the MCDM methods (Ayag & Ozdemir, 2009).
Some of the widely used MCDM methods include analytic hierarchy process (AHP), analytic network process (ANP), strategy
aligned fuzzy simple multi-attribute rating technique (SMART)
(Chou & Chang, 2008), grey relational analysis (GRA). AHP is a hierarchically structured technique that concentrates, compares and
evaluates the inuence of various elements on the objectives. But
practical decision making problems cannot be structured hierar* Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 9952709119.
E-mail address: vinodh_sekar82@yahoo.com (S. Vinodh).
0957-4174/$ - see front matter 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.eswa.2010.06.057

chically because the interactions and dependencies are involved

across the elements at various levels. This situation necessitated
a holistic approach. ANP is a technique that overcomes the limitations of AHP. A holistic approach like ANP is required if all the attributes and alternatives are networked in a system to accept various
dependencies. Two types of ANP include conventional and fuzzy
type. In conventional ANP, pairwise comparisons at each level with
respect to the objective of best supplier selection are conducted
using a 9-point Saaty scale (Guneri, Cengiz, & Seker, 2009). The
drawbacks associated with conventional ANP include crisp decision making, unbalanced judgement scale, imprecise and subjective judgement. Due to the vagueness and uncertain decision
making with conventional ANP, the concept of fuzzy ANP is found
to be advantageous. Fuzzy ANP replaces the hierarchies into a networked structure, in which all elements are interlinked (Chang,
Wey, & Tseng, 2009). Due to this reason, fuzzy ANP has been used
in this research project. The case study has been conducted in an
Indian electronics switches manufacturing company. The experiences of the conduct of this case study with a focus on best supplier selection have been presented in the following sections of
this article.

2. Literature review
The literature review has been carried out by referring to leading journal databases. The literature has been reviewed from three
perspectives: (1) various methods used for supplier selection, (2)
applications of ANP and (3) applications of fuzzy ANP.

S. Vinodh et al. / Expert Systems with Applications 38 (2011) 272280

273

Table 1
Methods used for supplier selection process
Research articles

Contributions

Semih and Ik (2009)

A supplier evaluation approach based on ANP and the technique for order performance by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) methods to
help a telecommunication company in the GSM sector in Turkey under the fuzzy environment has been presented.
A hybrid model has been presented using data envelopment analysis (DEA), decision trees (DT) and neural networks (NNs) to assess
supplier performance. The model consists of two modules: Module 1 applies DEA and classies suppliers into efcient and inefcient
clusters based on the resulting efciency scores. Module 2 utilizes rm performance-related data to train DT, NNs model and apply the
trained decision tree model to new suppliers. This results in favourable classication and prediction of accuracy rate.
A comprehensive decision method has been suggested for identifying top suppliers by considering the effects of interdependence among
the selection criteria, as well as to achieve optimal allocation of orders among the selected suppliers. An integrated fuzzy analytic network
process - multi objective linear programming (FANP-MOLP) approach has been used
A SMART approach has been used for solving the supplier/vendor selection problem from the perspective of strategic management of the
supply chain.
A new grey-based approach to deal with the supplier selection problem has been proposed.

Wu (2009)

Lin (2009)

Chou and Chang (2008)

Li, Yamaguchi, and Nagai
(2007)
Demirtas and Ustun
(2008a)
Verma and Pullman
(1998)
Ghodsypour and OBrien
(1998)
Choi and Hartley (1996)

An integration of ANP and multi-objective mixed integer linear programming (MOMILP) is proposed to consider both tangible and
intangible factors in choosing the best suppliers and dene the optimum quantities among selected suppliers to maximize the total value
of purchasing and minimize the budget and defect rate.
An examination of the difference between managers rating of the perceived importance of different supplier attributes and their actual
choice of suppliers in an experimental setting has been presented.
An integration of AHP and linear programming is proposed to consider both tangible and intangible factors in choosing the best suppliers
and placing the optimum order quantities such that the total value of purchasing (TVP) becomes the maximum.
Supplier selection practices across the supply chain have been explored. They have compared the supplier selection practices based on a
survey of companies at different levels of auto industry. compare

2.1. Literature review on various methods used for supplier selection

3. Research methodology

The various methods used for supplier selection process are

shown in Table 1.

The methodology followed during this research project is

shown in Fig. 1.
As shown, the project begins with the literature review on supplier selection models and applications of ANP and fuzzy ANP. A
conceptual model for supplier selection has been designed. After
developing the conceptual model, a suitable organisation for conducting the case study has been selected, and then, the necessary
data have been gathered for conducting the case study. Then, fuzzy
ANP has been selected as the technique for supplier selection process. This is followed by the execution of various steps in fuzzy
ANP for selecting the best supplier. Based on supplier selection
weighted index (SSWI) generated out of fuzzy ANP, the best supplier has been selected. This is followed by the conduct of sensitivity analysis for validating the sensitivity results of fuzzy ANP. Then,
the results have been practically validated in the industrial scenario to explore its feasibility.

2.2. Literature review on the applications of ANP

As inferred from Table 2, ANP has been applied for partner
selection, organisation selection, purchasing decisions, multiobjective decision making as well as in optimum order quantity
allocation.
2.3. Literature review on the applications of fuzzy ANP
The various applications of fuzzy ANP are shown in Table 3.
2.4. Research gap and problem domain
Selection of best supplier is a contemporary research issue in the
eld of SCM. Various approaches have been used by the researchers
for supplier selection. Since the conceptual framework of supplier
selection is a networked structure, techniques like fuzzy ANP have
to be used. In this context, fuzzy ANP has been used for selecting
the best supplier, which formed the problem domain of this article.

4. Case study
This section deals with the details about the case company,
background of the case study and fuzzy ANP approach for supplier
selection.

Table 2
Various applications of ANP.
Research articles

Contributions

Wu et al. (2009)

An integrated approach of ANP has been proposed to consider both tangible and intangible factors and to optimize the paid off earn by
company from strategic alliance.
An integrated multi-objective decision-making process by using ANP and mixed integer programming (MIP) to optimize supplier selection
process has been presented.
ANP and multi-period goal programming integration has been used in purchasing decisions.

Wu et al. (2009)
Demirtas and Ustun
(2008b)
Lang, Chiang, and Lan
(2009)
Ustun and Demirtas
(2009)
Ustun and Demirtas
(2008)
Gencer and Gurpinar
(2007)
Gencer and Gurpinar
(2007)

A novel hierarchical evaluation framework to assist the expert group to select the optimal supplier in supply chain management strategy
(SCMS).
An integrated approach of ANP and multi-objective mixed integer linear programming (MOMILP) is proposed to consider both tangible and
intangible factors in choosing the best suppliers and dene the optimum quantities among selected suppliers to maximize the total value of
purchasing and minimize the budget and defect rate.
An integration of ANP and achievement of scalarising functions is proposed to choose the best suppliers and dene the optimum quantities
among the selected suppliers by considering tangibleintangible criteria and time horizon.
An approach using ANP in supplier selection to evaluate the relations between supplier selection criterias in a feedback systematic.
ANP in supplier selection has been developed and implemented in an electronics company.

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S. Vinodh et al. / Expert Systems with Applications 38 (2011) 272280

Table 3
Applications of fuzzy ANP
Research articles

Contributions

Ayag and Ozdemir

(2009)

A fuzzy ANP based approach is proposed to evaluate a set of conceptual design alternatives developed in a new product development (NPD)
environment in order to reach to the best one satisfying both the needs and expectations of customers, and the engineering specications of
company.
Fuzzy ANP approach has been used for selecting a shipyard location.
Fuzzy ANP based approach is used for transportation-mode selection between Turkey and Germany.

Guneri et al. (2009)

Tuzkaya and Onut
(2008)
Wu, Ozdemir, and Lin
(2008)
Dagdeviren et al. (2008)

An evaluation model using fuzzy ANP, indicate overall organization performance of each hospital and assessing hospital operating crisis.
Fuzzy ANP model is used to identify faulty behaviour risk (FBR) in work system.

Literature review on supplier selection models and applications of ANP and fuzzy ANP
Development of conceptual model for supplier selection
Selection of a suitable organisation for conducting fuzzy ANP case study
Gathering of necessary data
Application of fuzzy ANP for supplier selection
Calculation of Supplier Selection Weighted Index (SSWI)
Selection of best supplier
Sensitivity analysis
Fig. 1. Research methodology.

4.1. About company and products

4.2. Background of the case study

The case study has been carried out at Salzer Electronics Limited
(hereafter referred to Salzer). Salzer is manufacturing Cam operated rotary switches, modular switches and relays. Salzer has been
started in collaboration with a German company. It has been
started in the year 1984. The number of employees currently working at Salzer is 350.

Various data pertaining to fuzzy ANP approach has been gathered in consultation with Manager (Standards & Systems) of Salzer.
The Manager, Standards & Systems (hereafter referred to as decision maker) possesses rich experience about the working culture
of Salzer. The various steps involved in fuzzy ANP approach have
been shown in Fig. 2.

Supplier selection criteria and sub criteria identification

Building pair wise comparison matrices between criteria and sub criteria

Super matrix formulation and analysis

Calculation of desirability index for various criteria and sub-criteria

Sensitivity analysis

Computation of SSWI and selection of best supplier

Fig. 2. Various steps in fuzzy ANP approach.

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S. Vinodh et al. / Expert Systems with Applications 38 (2011) 272280

improvement criteria consists of various sub-criteria namely reputation of industry, nancial strength, managing ability, organisation customers. The interaction between various sub-criteria is
shown in layer 3 in Fig. 3. In this research project, there are three
suppliers, among which the best supplier has to be selected.
Framework for fuzzy ANP supplier selection process is shown below in Fig. 3

The process starts with identication of supplier selection criteria and sub-criteria. Then, pairwise comparison matrices between
criteria and sub-criteria have to be developed. Then, the super matrix has to be formulated and analysed. This is followed by the calculation of desirability index for various sub-criteria. Then, the
sensitivity analysis has to be performed at criteria level. Then,
the SSWI has to be computed for deciding the best supplier.
4.3. Framework of fuzzy ANP

4.4. Fuzzy ANP approach for supplier selection

As shown the best supplier has to be selected based on computing the SSWI. The framework developed in this project consist of
ve supplier selection criteria, namely business improvement, extent of tness, quality, service and risks. The various sub-criteria
for supplier selection are also shown in Fig. 3. As a sample, business

4.4.1. Scale used in pairwise comparisons

A nine-point scale has been used for performing pairwise comparisons. The rating, corresponding preferences and remarks pertaining to the rating are given in Table 4.

Selection of the best supplier

Supplier Selection Weighted Index (SSWI)

Layer 1
Criteria

Business
Improvement (BI)

Extent of
Fitness (EOF)

Quality (Q)

Service (S)

Risks (R)

Sub-Criteria

Layer 2

1) Reputation of
Industry (ROI)

1) Sharing of
Expertise (SOE)

1) Low Defect
Rate (LDR)

1) On Time
Delivery (OTD)

1) Supply
Constraint (SC)

2) Financial
Strength (FS)

2) Flexible
Practices (FP)

2) Commitment to
Quality (CTQ)

2) Quick
Responsiveness
(QR)

2) Buyer Supplier
Constraint (BSC)

3) Managing
Ability (MA)

3) Diversified
Customers (DC)

3) Improved
Process Capability
(IPC)

3) Suppliers Profile
(SP)

3) Supplier
Capacity (SC)

4) Organisation
Customers (OS)

Interactions
ROI

FS

LD

SOE

MA

FP

DC

CT

OTD

IPC

QR

Layer 3
SC

SC

BSC

SP

OS

Supplier A

Supplier B

Supplier C

Fig. 3. Framework for fuzzy ANP process.

Table 4
Nine point scale used in pairwise comparisons.
Numerical rating

References

Remarks

1
3
5
7
9

Equally important
Moderately more important
Strongly more important
Very strongly more important
Extremely more important

Two attributes contribute equally to the attribute at the higher decision level
One attribute slightly favours another attribute over another
One attribute strongly favours another attribute over another
One attribute very strongly favours another attribute over another
One attribute extremely favours another attribute over another

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S. Vinodh et al. / Expert Systems with Applications 38 (2011) 272280

4.4.2. Developing pairwise comparison matrices between sub-criteria

The decision maker has been asked to respond to a sequence of
pairwise comparisons by employing triangular fuzzy numbers. Tri

~ 3;
~ 5;
~ has been used to indicate the
~ 7;
~ 9
angular fuzzy numbers 1;
relative importance of each pair of entities at the same level. The
fuzzy judgement matrix based on pairwise comparison has been
constructed as follows:

1
a
Ba
~
B
e B 21
A
B ..
@ .
~a1n
a

~a12
a
1
..
.
~an2
a

~a1n 1
  a
~a2n C
  a
C
C
..
..
.. C
.
.
. A
 

BOI
EF
Q
S
R

2 0; 1 Ayag Ozdemir; 2009

8l 2 0; 1 Ayag Ozdemir; 2009

After the completion of pairwise comparisons, the priority vector is

found. Priority vector is the Eigen vector of the matrix which is calculated through iteration

Aw kmax w

1. Fuzzy pairwise comparison matrix for dependencies between

various criteria is created. Eigen vector for the developed matrix
is calculated using Eqs. (1)(3). Sample calculation is shown in
Tables 57.
2. Fuzzy pairwise comparison matrix for dependencies between
sub-criteria for each criterion is created, and Eigen vector is calculated. Five such matrices have been developed. Sample calculation is shown in Tables 810.
3. Fuzzy pairwise comparison matrix for relative importance of
each supplier for each sub-criterion is created, and Eigen vector
is calculated. Sixteen matrices have been generated. Sample calculation is shown in Tables 1013.

Table 5
Fuzzy comparison matrix for dependencies in various criteria.

BOI

EF

1
~ 1
3

~
3
1
~ 1
5

~
7
~
5

~
5
~
7

~
7
~
9

1
~ 1
3

~
3
1
~ 1
3

~
5
~
3

~ 1
7
~ 1
5

~ 1
7

~ 1
7
~ 1
9

~ 1
5

Table 6
a-Cuts fuzzy comparison matrix for dependencies in various criteria.

BOI
EF
Q
S
R

Eigen vector

1
.375
.146
.208
.146

3
1
.208
.146
.113

7
5
1

5
7
3
1
.375

7
9
5
3
1

.4845
.3144
.1061
.0620
.0329

.375
.208

LDR

CTQ

IPC

CTQ

1
~ 1
3

~
9
~
5

IPC

~ 1
9

~
3
1
~ 1
5

LDR

BOI

EF

1
[1/2, 1/4]
[1/6, 1/8]
[1/4, 1/6]
[1/6, 1/8]

[2, 4]
1
[1/4, 1/6]
[1/6, 1/8]
[1/8, 1/10] [1/4, 1/6]

[6, 8]
[4, 6]
1
[1/2, 1/4]
~ 1
3

[4, 6]
[6, 8]
[2, 4]
1
1

[6, 8]
[8, 10]
[4, 6]
[2, 4]

Table 9
a cut fuzzy comparison matrix for relative importance of sub-criteria under criteria
quality.

LDR
CTQ
IPC

LDR

CTQ

IPC

1
[1/2, 1/4]
[1/8, 1/10]

[2, 4]
1
[1/4, 1/6]

[8, 10]
[4, 6]
1

Table 10
Eigen vector for comparison matrix of the sub-criteria under criteria quality.

To select the best supplier, the following steps have been followed:

EF

EF

e a la ; ua  m  la l; u  ma u 8a
M

BOI

BOI

Table 8
Fuzzy comparison matrix for the relative importance of sub-criteria under criteria
quality.

~ 3;
~ 5;
~ or 1
~ 1 ; 3
~ 1 ; 5
~ 1 ,
~ 7;
~ 9
~ 1 ; 7
~ 1 ; 9
~ij 1, if i = j, and a
~ij 1;
where a
when i j. a denotes condence level and l denotes index of optimism and is determined by the decision maker. The triangular fuzzy
numbers can be calculated using the following equations:

~aij laaiju 1  laaijl

a

Table 7
Eigen vector of comparison matrix for dependencies in various criteria.

LDR
CTQ
IPC

LDR

CTQ

IPC

Eigen vector

3
1

9
5
1

.6619
.2741
.0641

.375
.113

.208

Table 11
Fuzzy comparison matrix for relative importance of each supplier for sub-criteria
reputation of industry.
ROI

1
~ 1
1
~ 1
7

~
1
1
~ 1
3

~
7
~
3

B
C

~ a 1; 3  2a
1
~ a 1 2a; 5  2a
3
~
5a 3 2a; 7  2a
~ a 5 2a; 9  2a
7
~ a 7 2a; 11  2a
9


1
1
~ 1
3
;
a
5  2a 1 2a


1
1
~ 1
;
5
a
7  2a 3 2a


1
1
~ 1
;
7
a
9  2a 5 2a


1
1
~ 1
9
;
a
11  2a 7 2a
where a is condence level, whose value is substituted as a = 0.5
Sample calculation

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S. Vinodh et al. / Expert Systems with Applications 38 (2011) 272280

Table 12
a cut fuzzy comparison matrix for relative importance of each supplier for subcriteria reputation of industry.

Table 15
Fuzzy comparison matrix for the relative importance of the
sub-criteria under extent of tness and exible practices.

ROI

FP

SOE

DC

A
B
C

1
[1/2, 1/3]
[1/6, 1/8]

[2, 3]
1
[1/2, 1/4]

[6, 8]
[2, 4]
1

SOE

~
9
~ 1
7

~
7
~
9

Table 13
Eigen vector for comparison matrix for relative importance of each supplier for subcriteria reputation of industry.
ROI

Eigen vector

A
B
C

1
.75
.146

1.5
1
.375

7
3
1

.5653
.3392
.0988

~aij laaiju 1  laaijl

a

8l 2 0; 1

where l is index of optimism. We have substituted l = 0.5

Thus

~ a 0:5  3
~ a 1  0:5  3
~a
3
ij
iju
ijl
a
~ 0:5  2 0:5  4 3
3
ij
Similarly, fuzzy triangular numbers are calculated for other a-cuts
fuzzy numbers
4.4.3. Computation of consistency ratio for each pairwise comparison
matrix
The consistency ratio has to be calculated after the construction
of all pairwise comparison matrices. The consistency index that
represents the deviation from consistency is calculated using the
following equation:

CI

kmax  n
n1

Consistency ratio is a direct measure of the consistency of pairwise

comparisons and has been calculated by dividing the CI by random
consistency index (RI)

CR

CI
RI

As a sample Table 14 shows the Eigen vector calculation of comparison matrix for various sub-criteria under the criteria quality

kmax 3:08
3:08  3
0:04
CI
31

4.4.4. Development of pairwise comparison matrices of

interdependencies
Pairwise comparisons among various sub-criteria criteria
have been constructed in order to reect the interdependencies
in the network. As a sample, pairwise fuzzy comparison matrix
for the relative importance exible practices sub-criteria under
Extent of tness criteria has been shown in Table 15.
Table 16 depicts the a cut fuzzy comparison matrix for relative
importance of the sub-criteria under extent of tness and exible
practices. As inferred from Table 17, sharing of expertise sub-criteria which has Eigen vector 0.88 has more importance in the process of supplier selection in comparison with diversied
customers sub-criteria. Similarly, this kind of pairwise comparison matrix has been developed for all sub-criteria in this project
which leads to the generation of 16 matrices.
4.4.5. Construction and analysis of super matrix
The formulation of super matrix represents the interdependence effects that exist between various process elements. Super
matrix represents three kinds of relationships: (1) independence
from succeeding criteria/sub-criteria, (2) interdependence among
criteria/sub-criteria and (3) interdependence between the levels
of criteria and sub-criteria. The convergence of the interdependent
relationships between two levels has been done by raising the
power of super matrix to 2k + 1, where k is an arbitrary large number. Initially, the super matrix is considered as un-weighted, because each column consists of several Eigen vectors whose sum
may not be equal to 1. The super matrix needs to be stochastic in
order to derive reasonable priorities. For this purpose, the unweighted matrix has been multiplied by the priority weights generated from the clusters; thereby the weighted super matrix has
been derived. In this project, the super matrix before and after convergence has been shown in Tables 18 and 19, respectively.
4.4.6. Computation of desirability index
The desirability index has been calculated using the following
equation:

Di

j
k
X
X

PjAkj Alkj Sikj

Ayag and Ozdemir; 2009

j1 k1

RI = 0.58 (from random consistency index table)

0:04
0:069
CR
31

Table 14
Eigen vector for comparison matrix for various sub-criteria under quality criteria.

LDR
CTQ
IPC

DC

LDR

CTQ

IPC

1
.375
.113

3
1
.208

9
5
1
kmax
CI
RI
CR

where Pj is relative importance weight of criteria j; ADkj , relative

importance weight for sub-criteria k of criteria j for the dependency; Alkj , stabilised relative importance weight for sub-criteria k
of criteria j for the independency; S1kj, relative impact of supplier
alternative 1 on sub-criteria k of criteria j of supplier selection network; S2kj, relative impact of supplier alternative 2 on sub-criteria k
of criteria j of supplier selection network; and S3kj is the relative im-

Eigen vector
.6619
.2741
.0641
3.08
.04
.58
.069 < .100

Table 16
a cut fuzzy comparison matrix for relative importance of the
sub-criteria under extent of tness and exible practices.
FP

SOE

DC

SOE
DC

[8, 10]
[1/6, 1/8]

[6, 8]
[8, 10]

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S. Vinodh et al. / Expert Systems with Applications 38 (2011) 272280

pact of supplier alternative 3 on sub-criteria k of criteria j of supplier selection network.

Table 20 shows the desirability index computed for various suppliers based on all the ve criteria.
Sample calculation
Desirability index for supplier A for the sub-criteria reputation
of industry

Table 17
Eigen vector for comparison matrix for the relative importance of the sub-criteria
under extent of tness and exible practices.
FP

SOE

DC

Eigen vector

SOE
DC

9
.146

7
9

.8800
.1200

Table 18
Super matrix before convergence.

ROI
F.S
MQ
OS
SOE
FP
DC
LDF
CTQ
IPC
OTD
QR
SC
SCT
BSC
SP

ROI

FS

MQ

OS

.00
.52
.31
.17

.50
.00
.36
.14

.70
.175
.00
.125

.71
.22
.07
.00

SOE

FP

DC

.00
.93
.07

.88
.00
.12

.75
.25
.00

LDF

CTQ

IPC

.00
.58
.42

.87
.00
.12

.94
.06
.00

OTD

QR

SC

.00
.98
.02

.55
.00
.45

.97
.03
.00

SCT

BSC

SP

.00
.55
.45

.68
.00
.32

.84
.16
.00

Table 19
Super matrix after convergence.

ROI
F.S
MQ
OS
SOE
FP
DC
LDF
CTQ
IPC
OTD
QR
SC
SCT
BSC
SP

ROI

FS

MQ

OS

.3838
.2620
.2218
.1858

.3838
.2620
.2218
.1858

.3838
.2620
.2218
.1858

.3838
.2620
.2218
.1858

SOE

FP

DC

.4611
.4520
.0864

.4611
.4520
.0864

.4611
.4520
.0864

LDF

CTQ

IPC

.4256
.2594
.2081

.4256
.2594
.2081

.4256
.2594
.2081

OTD

QR

SC

.3745
.3749
.1764

.3745
.3749
.1764

.3745
.3749
.1764

SCT

BSC

SP

.4264
.2804
.2814

.4264
.2804
.2814

.4264
.2804
.2814

Table 20
Desirability index computed for various suppliers based on all the ve criteria.
Criteria

Sub-criteria

Pj

AD
kj

Alkj

S1kj

S2kj

S3kj

Supplier A

Supplier B

Supplier C

BI

ROI
FS
MQ
OS

.4845
.4845
.4845
.4845

.6300
.2100
.1300
.0730

.3838
.2620
.2218
.1858

.5653
.7320
.8320
.7210

.3392
.1456
.0970
.2270

.0988
.1222
.0720
.0510

.0662
.0195
.0116
.0019

.0397
.0039
.0014
.0006

.0116
.0032
.0010
.0001

EOF

SOE
FP
DC

.3144
.3144
.3144

.7760
.1617
.0607

.4611
.4520
.0864

.6639
.4273
.5700

.2782
.4912
.1900

.0579
.0815
.2400

.0748
.0098
.0009

.0314
.0112
.0003

.0065
.0019
.0004

LDF
CTQ
IPC

.1061
.1061
.1061

.6619
.2741
.0641

.4256
.2594
.2081

.6040
.5734
.6329

.3200
.3460
.3152

.0760
.0803
.0519

.0194
.0035
.0010

.0103
.0021
.0005

.0024
.0048
.0001

OTD
QR
SC

.0620
.0620
.0620

.7230
.2000
.0780

.3745
.3749
.1764

.5420
.5394
.5141

.4070
.2341
.2879

.0510
.2265
.1979

.0091
.0025
.0004

.0068
.0011
.0002

.0009
.0010
.0002

SCT
BSC
SP

.3290
.3290
.3290

.760
.1900
.0500

.4264
.2804
.2814

.8718
.4249
.6566

.0872
.5433
.2837

.0410
.0518
.0597

.0093
.0007
.0003

.0009
.0009
.0001

.0004
.0001
.0001

.2309

.1114

.0347

Total

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S. Vinodh et al. / Expert Systems with Applications 38 (2011) 272280

normalising the total desirability index for various suppliers. The

computed value of SSWI has been shown in Table 21. Based on
the interpretation, it has been found that supplier A is the best supplier with high SSWI.

Table 21
SSWI for various suppliers.

Supplier A
Supplier B
Supplier C
Total

Total desirability index

SSWI

.2309
.1114
.0347
.3770

.6124
.2955
.0920
1.0000

5. Results and discussion

The case study has been validated by means of two approaches:
(1) sensitivity analysis and (2) questionnaire-based approach.

0:4845  0:3000  0:3838  0:5653

0:0662

5.1. Sensitivity analysis

As inferred from Table 20, supplier A has been found to be the best
supplier with high desirability index 0.2309.

Sensitivity analysis has been carried out by varying the relative

importance of various criteria for all the suppliers. In this project,
sensitivity analysis has been carried out at three levels (without
any change, 5% change and 10% change). The results of sensitivity
analysis are shown in Fig. 4. It has been inferred from Fig. 4, a small

4.4.7. Computation of SSWI

The SSWI has been computed in order to make a nal decision
in the process of supplier selection. The SSWI has been obtained by

Fig. 4. Results of sensitivity analysis by varying the relative criteria between various criteria for different suppliers.

Name:
Designation:
Company:
Date:
1) You have been shown the super ma trix that depicts the interdependencies of various sub-criteria. To
what extent do you believe that this super matrix is practically possible?
0

Not at all

10

partially

completely

2) You have been shown the supplier selection desira bility index for various sub-criteria. To what extent
do you believe that this approach represents reality?
0

Not at all

partially

Fig. 5. Excerpt of the questionnaire used for validation.

10
completely

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S. Vinodh et al. / Expert Systems with Applications 38 (2011) 272280

Table 22
Response of the decision maker.
Q.
No.

Question

Response in Likerts scale of range 010 [0 not

at all possible; 5 partially possible; 10
completely possible]

You have been shown the super matrix that depicts the interdependencies of various sub-criteria. To what
extent do you believe that this super matrix is practically possible?
You have been shown the supplier selection desirability index for various sub-criteria. To what extent do you
believe that this approach represents reality?
You have been shown the supplier selection weighted index for different suppliers. To what extent do you
believe that this computation is practically feasible?
The sensitivity analysis for the supplier selection process is shown to you. To what extent do you believe that
the results are realistic?

2
3
4

change in the relative importance does not create any impact in the
decision made, which has been revealed by the linearity of the
results.
5.2. Questionnaire-based validation
In order to determine the practical feasibility of deploying fuzzy
ANP approach for selecting the best supplier, a questionnaire has
been designed scientically, and an excerpt of the questionnaire
has been shown in Fig. 5. The responses have been gathered from
the decision maker of Salzer and his responses are shown in Table 22.
Besides, the overall opinion of the decision maker has been
quoted as an effective method of supplier selection and is compatible for Salzer, based on the response given by the decision maker
as well as based on the sensitivity analysis, the fuzzy ANP process
is found to be practically feasible and compatible in industrial scenario for effective supplier selection.
6. Conclusions
The manufacturing organisations in contemporary scenario
have been witnessing rapid transformation in their manufacturing
pattern. The manufacturing pattern has been changed from mass
manufacturing to mass customised manufacturing (Gunasekaran,
1999). In mass customised as well as in advanced manufacturing
paradigms, outsourcing is an essential ingredient of business practices. In this context, the supplier selection process gains extreme
importance. Various approaches are available for supplier selection. Fuzzy ANP approach has been used in this project to select
the best supplier so as to enable the manufacturing organisation
to achieve their business objectives in the supply chain practices.
The unique features of fuzzy ANP include the development of pairwise comparison matrices, utilisation of interdependencies among
decision levels and development of more reliable solutions (Ayag &
Ozdemir, 2009). Extreme care has to be ensured in the supplier
selection process because any wrong decision in supplier selection
may lead to the risk of losing market share and prot margin of the
organisation. The case study reported in this article has been validated using two approaches which indicated the practical feasibility and practical adaptability of this approach in the contemporary
industrial scenario.
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