Investment performance analysis of industrial products: case of an effluent processing facility at a chemical company

This paper proposes an approach to a multi-criteria investment performance analysis of industrial products. Manufacturers must determine the necessary and sufficient specification of products they use. Such an analysis, however, involves a broad range of factors, including some that are subjective. The performance analysis and decision making for investment thus must often rely heavily on past experience, generalities, and intuition. This paper addresses these issues from a benefit, opportunity, cost and risk (BOCR) perspective, in which the criteria are prioritized and the products are evaluated objectively. Pairwise comparisons among the criteria and quantitative assessments of the performance of products comprise a prioritized BOCR analysis. A case study demonstrating the applicability of the proposed approach is conducted at a chemical company. Results show that the proposed approach succeeds in the multi-criteria performance analysis of industrial products, resulting in a practical proposal of a product specification best suited to this company’s case

Fuzzy Interactive Approach for a Multi-objective Supplier Selection Problem under Robust Uncertainty

In this paper, the authors proposed a multi-objective Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) model for supplier selection problems. The main aim of the system under the investigation is to plan the companies to supply goods to achieve financial benefit by minimizing the total costs and satisfying the customers with on-time delivery and minimizing rejected items. In this case, some restrictions such as multi-product and multi-period conditions, shortage inventory constraints, and discount circumstances simultaneously are considered. Despite these efforts, due to the uncertainty nature of the problem, some parameters are considering as uncertainty data. For this aim, applying robust counterparts for uncertain parameters plays an essential role in real-world applications of this case. It is concluded that the feasibility and optimality properties of the usual solutions of real-world LPs can be severely affected by small changes of the data and that the robust optimization (RO) methodology can be successfully used to overcome this phenomenon

A hybrid analytical network process and fuzzy goal programming for supplier selection: A case study of auto part maker

The aim of this research is to present a hybrid model to select auto part suppliers. The proposed method of this paper uses factor analysis to find the most influencing factors on part maker selection and the results are validated using different statistical tests such as Cronbach's Alpha and Kaiser-Meyer.The hybrid model uses analytical network process to rank different part maker suppliers and fuzzy goal programming to choose the appropriate alternative among various choices. The implementation of the proposed model of this paper is used for a case study of real-world problem and the results are discussed

Optimizing strategic sourcing in the healthcare supply chain with consideration of physician preference and vendor scorecards

This research focuses on the design of a procurement model for expensive medical supplies in a healthcare supply chain. A deterministic optimization model generates recommendations for optimal purchases of products in a given planning period. The model combines common concepts of supply chain procurement such as leveraging tiered pricing, ensuring supply base diversity with phenomena unique to healthcare supply chain such as consideration of physician preference for products. The deterministic optimization model minimizes total spend over a chosen planning period with consideration of four key decision parameters: Physician preference requirements (which are imposed as rules on product substitutability), Upper limits on vendor market share to ensure a suitably diverse supply base Vendors’ performance scores to impose standards for product pricing, quality, service, etc. Quantity discount rebate parameters for bulk purchasing to help contain medical costs The optimization model reveals the extent to which higher product substitutability and lower supply base diversity may help hospitals reduce total procurement costs. Experiments with the optimization model also reveal the potential consequences of rater biases in vendor scorecards on procurement cost. The various parameter combinations listed above may be used in negotiating contracts for better pricing. In summary, this research addresses questions pertinent to healthcare supply chains concerning the possible cost of physician preference for products, the impact of subjective scorecards on procurement costs, the effect of planning period on procurement plans, and the cost of vendor diversity

Outsourcing and acquisition models comparison related to IT supplier selection decision analysis

This paper presents a comparison of acquisition models related to decision analysis of IT supplier selection. The main standards are: Capability Maturity Model Integration for Acquisition (CMMI-ACQ), ISO / IEC 12207 Information Technology / Software Life Cycle Processes, IEEE 1062 Recommended Practice for Software Acquisition, the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) and the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) guide. The objective of this paper is to compare the previous models to find the advantages and disadvantages of them for the future development of a decision model for IT supplier selection

Tender Evaluation for the Telecommunication Industry using the Analytic Network Process

In the past few decades, tender evaluation has consistently dominated most of organizations\u27 top strategic priorities. Additionally, the field of tender evaluation has generated a vast amount of research efforts, wherein most of these efforts center on methods enabling consideration of all affecting criteria together to make an appropriate decision. Despite the great deal of advances in the methods of tender evaluation based on technical view, there still lacks comprehensive and organizational-driven decision making tools to support organizations during the crucial task of choosing a suitable tender that best meets their business and technical needs.;Tender evaluation has a strategic role in the success of large enterprises in the telecommunication market. It is a complex, multi-person, multi-criteria process. The criteria used to evaluate a tender contain quantitative which are easy to measure and qualitative attributes which most available methods fail to deal with them. In this study, a model is developed using Analytic Network Process (ANP) in a Benefit, Opportunity, Cost, and Risk (BOCR).;The essence of this approach is decomposition of a complex problem into a hierarchy with objective at the top of the hierarchy, criteria and sub-criteria at levels and sub-levels of the hierarchy, respectively, and decision alternatives at the bottom of the hierarchy. Factors at given hierarchy level are compared in pairs to assess their relative preference with respect to each of the factors at the next upper level. These can support complex problems that would be otherwise difficult to handle. This method is capable of handling discrete criteria of both quantitative and qualitative in nature and provides complete ordering of the alternatives.;The primary feature of this methodology is its ability to simultaneously consider all types of criteria for tender evaluation in telecommunication companies. The criteria defined for the model using Delphi method from experts in the field and are general to all telecommunication tenders. The developed model is used in an empirical study on an ongoing tender in a mobile telecom service provider company to analyze the tenderers\u27 data and evaluate and rank them. The result of this model is compared to the company\u27s evaluation result which is obtained from traditional Texas Instruments Matrix method. The proposed model shows the ranking of the tenderers in different BOCR merits separately as local priorities to help the evaluators make a more efficient decision. A sensitivity analysis on the empirical study was conducted to show how the rankings of the tenderers are changing by changing the weights of the BOCR merits.;The research work presented here may be used by telecommunication professionals and managers to aid in making appropriate decisions on tender evaluation process and determinate strategies for reducing the risk of this process

Sustainability Analysis under Disruption Risks

Resilience to disruptions and sustainability are both of paramount importance to supply chains. This paper presents a hybrid methodology for the design of a sustainable supply network that performs resiliently in the face of random disruptions. A stochastic bi-objective optimization model is developed that utilizes a fuzzy c-means clustering method to quantify and assess the sustainability performance of the suppliers. The proposed model determines outsourcing decisions and buttressing strategies that minimize the expected total cost and maximize the overall sustainability performance in disruptions. Important managerial insights and practical implications are obtained from the model implementation in a case study of plastic pipe industry