The supplier selection of the marine rescue equipment based on the analytic hierarchy process (AHP)-Limited Diversity Factors Method

Abstract

Supplier selection is an important decision-making link in bidding activity. When overall scores of several suppliers are similar, it is hard to obtain an accurate ranking of these suppliers. Applying the Diversity Factors Method (Diversity Factors Method, DFM)may lead to over correction of weights, which would degrade the capability of indexes to reflect the importance. A Limited Diversity FactorsMethod (Limited Diversity Factors Method, LDFM) based on entropy is presented in this paper in order to adjust the weights, in order to relieve the over correction in DFMand to improve the capability of identification of indexes in supplier selection. An example of salvage ship bidding demonstrates the advantages of the LDFM, in which the raking of overall scores of suppliers is more accurate.