Suuplier selection is one of the most important functions of a purchasing
department. Since by deciding the best supplier, companies can save material
costs and increase competitive advantage.However this decision becomes
compilcated in case of multiple suppliers, multiple conflicting criteria, and
imprecise parameters. In addition the uncertainty and vagueness of the experts'
opinion is the prominent characteristic of the problem. therefore an
extensively used multi criteria decision making tool Fuzzy AHP can be utilized
as an approach for supplier selection problem. This paper reveals the
application of Fuzzy AHP in a gear motor company determining the best supplier
with respect to selected criteria. the contribution of this study is not only
the application of the Fuzzy AHP methodology for supplier selection problem,
but also releasing a comprehensive literature review of multi criteria decision
making problems. In addition by stating the steps of Fuzzy AHP clearly and
numerically, this study can be a guide of the methodology to be implemented to
other multiple criteria decision making problems.Comment: Published in "International Journal of Managing Value and Supply
Chains (IJMVSC) Vol.4, No. 3, September 2013