A Dynamic Decision Support System for Sustainable Supplier Selection under Fuzzy Environment

Abstract

The plastics business has grown rapidly in recent years, with annual growth rates ranging from 16% to 18% each year (second only to the telecommunications and textile industries). The plastic industry is regarded as a dynamic industry in the Vietnamese economy due to its rapid development rate. Its high growth stems from a big market with significant expansion potential, since Vietnam’s plastic sector is still in its early stages in comparison to the rest of the globe and plastic goods are pushed and utilized in many aspects of life. In order to ensure sustainable development and comply with the provisions of the Law on Environment Protection, plastic manufactures and importers must ensure to fulfill two responsibilities: (1) proper product and packaging recycling—applicable to products and packaging with recyclable value; and (2) the collection and treatment of waste—applicable to products and packaging containing hazardous substances, difficult to recycle, causing difficulties for waste collection and treatment. Therefore, raw materials supplier selection in the plastic industry is a complex decision, and decision makers must consider many qualitative factors, quantitative factors and environmental attributes during the decision making. As a result, the goal of this study is to present an integrated multicriteria decision making model (MCDM) strategy for sustainable supplier selection in the plastics sector under fuzzy environment circumstances. This paper makes a contribution by proposing a hybrid fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) approach model for raw material supplier selection in the plastics sector. This research also provided a useful guideline for supplier selection in other industries.