Supplier Selection Based on AHP QFD Methodology

Strategic partnership with better suppliers needs to be formed to improve quality, flexibility as well as to reduce lead time. The voice of company stakeholders has to be considered so that suppliers selected may provide what the company wants. In this paper an integrated approach, combining Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is developed to select suppliers strategically. When the House of Quality (HOQ) is used in supplier selection, the company begins with the features that the purchased product must have in order to meet certain requirements that the company has established and then tries to identify which of the supplier's attributes have the greatest impact on the achievement of its established objectives. QFD provides the importance weightings of evaluating criterion, which are derived by the importance ratings of stakeholder requirements together with the relationship weightings between stakeholder requirements and evaluating criterion. Based on the ranked criteria, alternative suppliers are evaluated and compared with each other using AHP again to make an optimal selection. A case study of a Precision Machined High Pressure Die Casting components company in selecting its supplier by using the proposed AHP QFD technique is presented. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.