The evaluation and ranking of medical device suppliers by using fuzzy topsis methodology

Abstract

The aim of this study is to propose a fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making approach (MCDM) to evaluate suppliers of one kind of medical device with respect to numerous criteria, simultaneously taking into account the type of each criteria and its relative importance. Two fuzzy MCDM methods are proposed for solving the treated problem. In the first step, the fuzzy pair-wise comparison matrix of the relative importance of criteria is constructed. The weight vector is calculated by using the developed procedure, and in the second step, the fuzzy Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (FTOPSIS) is applied in order to rank possible suppliers of the considered kind of medical device. The rank is obtained using the process of fuzzy number comparison. A case study with real-life data is presented to verify the proposed method.