Ranking of third party logistics provider using fuzzy Electre II

Abstract

Third party reverse logistics providers (3PRLP's) businesses developed at a high rate in the past few years due to the need for the return of products or used products to the producer. This was influenced by government restrictions concerning the environment protection, or due to the fact that recycling the used products is more profitable than the savings of not providing a reverse logistics chain. Ranking and Selecting the best third party reverse logistics providers (3PRLP) represents a challenging task in our days because in most of the business areas there are many qualified reverse logistics provider available for the manufacturers to select as a partner. Most often, within the same business area different 3PRLP are having different specializations and skills and that makes the decision process very difficult for the manufacturer. This paper attempts to solve the third party logistics provider's selection problem through a multi criteria decision making approach — “Elimination et choice translating reality“ (Electre II). The Electre method uses the concept of outranking relationship. The model is applied to a battery recycling case.