Partner Selection in Supply Chain by MODM Model.

Developing partnership among companies reduces costs, increases profitability and gains competitive advantage for the companies involved. World class companies are developing strong relationships with their business partners and when these relationships are fully developed, they will lead to long run partnership. Also, for appropriate implementation of JIT and Lean production, producers need to develop partnership in their supply chain. Selecting the right partner is the most important stage in partnership and this article introduces an approach, consisting of two stages; First "conceptual Model" presentation and second, using, two "Multiple Objectives Decision Making Models (MODM) for selecting suppliers as business partners in supply chain. By developing the selection models and collecting data from two large auto-car firms, "The Conceptual Model" and two MODM models for implementing the conceptual model are presented in two stages as follows: 1. Selecting suppliers from potential suppliers with no prior supplying transactions with the producer. 2. The final selection of partners from suppliers with at least one supplying transaction period with the producer, because some of the criteria and attributes must be measured and evaluated during supplying process. The two models above have been tested in two suitable firms with needed conditions and results have been presented.

Keywords:

partnership , lean supply , partnership life cycle , multiple objectives decision making , decision maker