A fuzzy MCDM approach based on COPRAS method to solve supplier selection problems

Abstract

As the global competition is growing increasingly, it is essential for firms to remain competitive and respond to the rapidly changing. In this case, firms need to establish an effective supply chain management in which supplier selection is one of the most critical activities required to be performed. Supplier selection problem is considered as a multiple-criteria decision making (MCDM) problem including various conflict criteria. In real-world environment, for supplier selection problem, the definite and explicit information is not accessible. So in this paper, the linguistic variables are applied to determine the ratings and weights of the criteria which are expressed as trapezoidal fuzzy numbers. Then a multiple-criteria decision making approach based on the combination of fuzzy set theory and complex proportional assessment (COPRAS) is proposed to deal with supplier selection problems in uncertain and ambiguous environment. Finally, in order to illustrate the procedure of the proposed approach, a numerical example is considered.