A fuzzy approach to select the location of the distribution center

The location selection of distribution center (DC) is one of the most important decision issues for logistics managers. Owing to vague concept frequently represented in decision data, a new multiple criteria decision-making method is proposed to solve the distribution center location selection problem under fuzzy environment. In the proposed method, the ratings of each alternative and the weight of each criterion are described by linguistic variables which can be expressed in triangular fuzzy numbers. The final evaluation value of each DC location is also expressed in a triangular fuzzy number. By calculating the difference of final evaluation value between each pair of DC locations, a fuzzy preference relation matrix is constructed to represent the intensity of the preferences of one plant location over another. And then, a stepwise ranking procedure is proposed to determine the ranking order of all candidate locations. Finally, a numerical example is solved to illustrate the procedure of the proposed method at the end of this paper. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.