A grey-based decision-making approach to the supplier selection problem

Supplier selection is a multiple-attribute decision-making (MADM) problem. Since the decision makers (DMs) such as preferences on alternatives or on the attributes of suppliers are often uncertain, supplier selection becomes more difficult. Grey theory is one of the methods used to study uncertainty, being superior in the mathematical analysis of systems with uncertain information. In this paper, we propose a new grey-based approach to deal with the supplier selection problem. The work procedure is as follows: firstly, the weights and ratings of attributes for all alternatives are described by linguistic variables that can be expressed in grey numbers. Secondly, using a grey possibility degree, the ranking order of all alternatives is determined. Finally, an example of a selection problem of supplier was used to illustrate the proposed approach. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.