Supplier selection using extended IT2 fuzzy TOPSIS and IT2 fuzzy MOORA considering subjective and objective factors

Abstract

During recent years, determination of efficient supplier has become a major challenge for improving the organizational efficiency. However, determination of suitable suppliers is always a complex multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem because it involves the consideration of a large number of objective and subjective factors and also the factors may be uncertain and conflict in nature. This paper presents two novel MCDM techniques in interval type-2 fuzzy (IT2F) environment capable of handling uncertain subjective and objective factors simultaneously for selection of efficient suppliers in real-life applications. Technique for order preference by similarity to the ideal solution (TOPSIS) and multi-objective optimization on the basis of ratio analysis (MOORA) methods are used in IT2F environment to evaluate subjective factors with regard to subjective factor measures (SFM), and traditional normalization technique is used to evaluate the objective factors in terms of objective factor measures (OFMs). Then, SFM and OFM are used to calculate supplier selection index (SSI) by using Brown and Gibson model. The proposed models are then demonstrated with a case study in an Indian manufacturing organization for selection of efficient suppliers. Sensitivity analysis and comparative study of the results are carried out. It is found that the model is useful and efficient for decision making and evaluation of suitable suppliers in an uncertain environment.