A fuzzy approach for ranking suppliers of polyurethane materials in shoes industry: using fuzzy TOPSIS

Decision support for supplier selection is a highly researched theme in procurement management literature. Moreover, in the contemporary world the success will not come true unless by using scientific method and teamwork. It is conspicuous that the traditional methods won't lead to customer satisfaction any more. In this paper a fuzzy TOPSIS method is used for ranking and evaluating suppliers of polyurethane materials in shoe industry which have attracted lots of attention due to cost-effectiveness in production and frugality in the final prices. This has also called for another challenge under the name of the selection criterion of the suppliers. Decision making in this industry is vague and uncertain and in terms of approximate numbers. Thus, the fuzzy environment is a fruitful area to clarify the ambiguity considering this case. Then this study determines the ranking order of three Exclusive Company according to the concept of the fuzzy TOPSIS.

Keywords:

fuzzy TOPSIS , multi criteria decision making , ranking suppliers , shoes industry