Supplier Selection Problem by Applying Additive Ratio Assessment (ARAS) Methodology

Abstract

This research article provides a detailed description of the supplier selection problem and its solution by applying various forms of multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods, e.g., TOPSIS, COPRAS, ARAS. The goal of this paper is to select the best supplier among 18 suppliers available on the basis of five main criteria such as quality, supply variety, price, delivery performance, and distance. These five are the most critical parameters on the basis of which the performance and efficiency of the supplier can be judged. The weightages of the criteria are calculated by applying analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and these weightages are implemented in ARAS, COPRAS, and TOPSIS methodology to select the best alternative supplier. The best supplier is chosen by applying all the three MCDM methods and a preference ranking order of all the 18 suppliers is also proposed indicating the best supplier to the worst. Supplier 10, supplier 17, and supplier 15 came out to be ranked 1st, ranked 2nd, and ranked 3rd, respectively by all the three MCDM process and supplier 7 is ranked last in spite of being some change in the ranking order by the three methods. Mainly, the ARAS method is deliberately highlighted and explained in details in this paper and the rankings and results are also compared with the other researchers’ outcomes derived by implementing other MCDM tools like TOPSIS and COPRAS.