Supplier selection using fuzzy AHP and fuzzy multi-objective linear programming for developing low carbon supply chain

Environmental sustainability of a supply chain depends on the purchasing strategy of the supply chain members. Most of the earlier models have focused on cost, quality, lead time, etc. issues but not given enough importance to carbon emission for supplier evaluation. Recently, there is a growing pressure on supply chain members for reducing the carbon emission of their supply chain. This study presents an integrated approach for selecting the appropriate supplier in the supply chain, addressing the carbon emission issue, using fuzzy-AHP and fuzzy multi-objective linear programming. Fuzzy AHP (FAHP) is applied first for analyzing the weights of the multiple factors. The considered factors are cost, quality rejection percentage, late delivery percentage, green house gas emission and demand. These weights of the multiple factors are used in fuzzy multi-objective linear programming for supplier selection and quota allocation. An illustration with a data set from a realistic situation is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model. The proposed approach can handle realistic situation when there is information vagueness related to inputs. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.