Sustainable warehouse evaluation with AHPSort traffic light visualisation and post-optimal analysis method

Sustainable warehousing is essential for organisations to achieve overall supply chain sustainability. Warehousing facilities have the greatest potential for reducing socio-environmental impact. Yet, both research and practice have given relatively less attention to considering all aspects of sustainability in warehouses. In order to address this gap, this study proposes combining both input from professionals and from a literature survey of triple-bottom-line theory in order to develop a sustainable warehouse criteria framework, thus contributing to sustainable organisational warehouse evaluation. The method supporting the evaluation of this framework is based on the integration of a multicriteria AHPSort traffic light visualisation technique and novel post-optimal analysis. Furthermore, the authors deployed this framework and integrated methodology in an Indian manufacturing company to evaluate and classify seven of their warehouses for decision making. The traffic light visualisation technique presents and conveys the results better than numbers. Finally, the new post-optimal analysis provides recommendations for cost efficient improvements. The findings of this study present valuable insights and guidelines for industrial managers and practitioners, especially those from the Indian manufacturing industry, for sustainable warehouse decision-making, and for improving their overall corporate sustainability performance

An integrated multi-criteria decision-making framework for sustainable supplier selection under picture fuzzy environment

Sustainable supplier selection (SSS) is an important part of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM). In this paper, an integrated multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) framework, based on the picture fuzzy exponential entropy, and the VIsekriterijumska optimizacija i KOmpromisno Resenje (VIKOR) method, is proposed to manage SSS problems. Firstly, the evaluation criteria of SSS, including economic, environmental and social, is established. This can be evaluated in the form of the actual data or linguistic terms provided by suppliers and experts respectively in an actual decision-making process. Then, according to the translated scales, all the evaluation information can be converted into picture fuzzy numbers (PFNs). Secondly, the picture fuzzy exponential entropy is defined. Moreover, based on the entropy’s minimization principle, the defined picture fuzzy exponential entropy is used to determine the weight of the SSS’s criteria. Thirdly, the extended VIKOR method, which combines the grey correlation coefficient, is utilized to select a suitable supplier. This method avoids the shortcomings of the traditional VIKOR method in data mining and solves the conflict between SSS criteria. Finally, the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed integrated decision framework are verified by an experiment, as well as a sensitivity analysis and comparative analysis. First published online 28 February 202

Renovation priority ranking by multi-criteria assessment of architectural heritage: the case of castles

Preservation of cultural heritage is related with high costs and required interventions generally exceed available funding. It is, therefore, necessary to prioritise renovation interventions. Multi-criteria assessment can lead to scientifically sound and informed decisions about interventions. The paper presents the results of research carried out with the purpose of establishing a multi-criteria method for the assessment of architectural heritage, specifically for castles in Slovenia. It explains the methodology used to develop the multi-criteria method. Its main elements are critical content analysis of relevant literature, comparative analysis between the Slovenian and international space, and identification of relevant criteria and sub-criteria of the decision method. The course and results of empirical research, based on interviews with selected experts, is presented together with the results of the criteria importance ranking based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method. The research presented in this paper is interdisciplinary and brings together tangible and intangible aspects of cultural heritage. The obtained results confirm that rational determination of relative importance of individual criteria for the assessment of architectural heritage can help decision-makers to identify buildings with higher refurbishment priority

Multicriteria sorting method based on global and local search for supplier segmentation

The aim of this research is to develop a robust multicriteria method to classify suppliers into ordered categories and its validation in real contexts. The proposed technique is based on a property of net flows of the PROMETHEE method and uses global and local search concepts, which are common in the optimisation field. The results obtained are compared to those from the most cited sorting algorithm, and an empirical validation and sensitivity analysis is performed using real supplier evaluation data. Furthermore, it does not require additional information from decision-makers as other sorting algorithms do for assigning incomparable or indifferent alternatives to groups. An extension of the silhouette concept from data mining is also contributed to measure the quality of ordered classes. Both contributions are easy to apply and integrate into decision support systems for automated decisions in the supply chain management. Finally, this practical approach is also useful to classify customers and any type of alternatives or actions into ordered categories, which have an increasing number of real applications

COPRAS method for multiple attribute group decision making under picture fuzzy environment and their application to green supplier selection

The green supplier selection (GSS) is a significant part in green supply chain management (GSCM). Choosing optimal green supplier can not only realize the sustainable development of enterprises, but also maximize the utilization rate of resources and diminish the negative effect of environmental issues, which conforms to the theme of green development. As a multiple attribute group decision-making (MAGDM) issue, selecting optimal green supplier is of vital important to enterprises. However, how to select the optimal supplier for enterprises is a great challenge. To handle this issue, a novel picture fuzzy COPRAS (COmplex PRoportional Assessment) method is devised. First, some necessary theories related to picture fuzzy sets (PFSs) are briefly reviewed. In addition, a method called CRITIC (Criteria Importance Though Intercrieria Correlation) is utilized to calculate criteria’s weights. Afterwards, the conventional COPRAS method is extended to the PFSs to calculate each alternative’s utility degree. At last, the designed method is exacted to an application which is related to GSS and there also conduct some comparative analysis to demonstrate the designed method’s superiority. The final results show that the proposed model can be utilized to decide the optimum green supplier

An overview of fuzzy techniques in supply chain management: bibliometrics, methodologies, applications and future directions

Every practice in supply chain management (SCM) requires decision making. However, due to the complexity of evaluated objects and the cognitive limitations of individuals, the decision information given by experts is often fuzzy, which may make it difficult to make decisions. In this regard, many scholars applied fuzzy techniques to solve decision making problems in SCM. Although there were review papers about either fuzzy methods or SCM, most of them did not use bibliometrics methods or did not consider fuzzy sets theory-based techniques comprehensively in SCM. In this paper, for the purpose of analyzing the advances of fuzzy techniques in SCM, we review 301 relevant papers from 1998 to 2020. By the analyses in terms of bibliometrics, methodologies and applications, publication trends, popular methods such as fuzzy MCDM methods, and hot applications such as supplier selection, are found. Finally, we propose future directions regarding fuzzy techniques in SCM. It is hoped that this paper would be helpful for scholars and practitioners in the field of fuzzy decision making and SCM

Application of Interval Fuzzy Logic in Selecting a Sustainable Supplier on the Example of Agricultural Production

The selection of sustainable suppliers (SSS) is the first step in applying a sustainable supply chain and sustainable production. Therefore, it is necessary to select the supplier that best meets the set sustainability criteria. However, the selection of suppliers cannot be done by applying symmetric information, because the company does not have complete information, so asymmetric information should be used when selecting suppliers. Since the SSS applies three main sustainability criteria, environmental, social, and economic criteria, this decision-making problem is solved by applying multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM). In order to solve the SSS for the needs of agricultural production, interval fuzzy logic was applied in this research, and six suppliers with whom agricultural pharmacies in Semberija work were taken into consideration. The application of interval fuzzy logic was performed using the methods PIPRECIA (Pivot pairwise relative criteria importance assessment) and MABAC (Multi-Attributive Border Approximation Area Comparison). Using the PIPRECIA method, the weights of criteria and sub-criteria were determined. Results of this method showed that the most significant are economic criteria, followed by the social criteria. The ecological criteria are the least important. The supplier ranking was performed using the MABAC method. The results showed that supplier A4 best meets the sustainability criteria, while supplier A6 is the worst. These results were confirmed using other MCDM methods, followed by the sensitivity analysis. According to the attained results, agricultural producers from Semberija should buy the most products from suppliers A4, in order to better apply sustainability in production. This paper showed how to decision make when there is asymmetric information about suppliers

An intuitionistic fuzzy entropy-based gained and lost dominance score decision-making method to select and assess sustainable supplier selection

Sustainable supplier selection (SSS) is recognized as a prime aim in supply chain because of its impression on profitability, adorability, and agility of the organization. This work introduces a multi-phase intuitionistic fuzzy preference-based model with which decision experts are authorized to choose the suitable supplier using the sustainability "triple bottom line (TBL)" attributes. To solve this issue, an intuitionistic fuzzy gained and lost dominance score (IF-GLDS) approach is proposed using the developed IF-entropy. To make better use of experts' knowledge and fully represent the uncertain information, the evaluations of SSS are characterized in the form of intuitionistic fuzzy set (IFS). To better distinguish fuzziness of IFSs, new entropy for assessing criteria weights is proposed with the help of an improved score function. By considering the developed entropy and improved score function, a weight-determining process for considered criterion is presented. A case study concerning the iron and steel industry in India for assessing and ranking the SSS is taken to demonstrate the practicability of the developed model. The efficacy of the developed model is certified with the comparison by diverse extant models

An integrated and comprehensive fuzzy multicriteria model for supplier selection in digital supply chains

Digital supply chains (DSCs) are collaborative digital systems designed to quickly and efficiently move information, products, and services through global supply chains. The physical flow of products in traditional supply chains is replaced by the digital flow of information in DSCs. This digitalization has changed the conventional supplier selection processes. We propose an integrated and comprehensive fuzzy multicriteria model for supplier selection in DSCs. The proposed model integrates the fuzzy best-worst method (BWM) with the fuzzy multi-objective optimization based on ratio analysis plus full multiplicative form (MULTIMOORA), fuzzy complex proportional assessment of alternatives (COPRAS), and fuzzy technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS). The fuzzy BWM approach is used to measure the importance weights of the digital criteria. The fuzzy MULTIMOORA, fuzzy COPRAS, and fuzzy TOPSIS methods are used as prioritization methods to rank the suppliers. The maximize agreement heuristic (MAH) is used to aggregate the supplier rankings obtained from the prioritization methods into a consensus ranking. We present a real-world case study in a manufacturing company to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed method