Multicriteria Supplier Selection for Supply Chain Management

Abstract

Under the pressure of global competition, cycle time reduction and increasing product complexity, enterprises have realized that internal improvements are certainly important but not sufficient. Company performances depend not only on internal activities but also on external resources from supply networks made up of customers, suppliers, and subcontractors. In the present paper, the conventional choice of suppliers involved in a supply network is reconsidered. The process proposed to support decisions in a context of choice is based on the exploitation of a Simulation of Extended Enterprises ‘SEE’ platform for the configuration of a multicriteria method (Analytic Hierarchy Process ‘AHP’) and the analysis of the choice of suppliers. This multicriteria method, restructured into two phases, is presented and the implementation process is described. The case study focuses on snowmobile assembly with 75 workstations in a multi-product assembly line, 420 supplied parts and 48 suppliers. Multiple simulation cases are presented and the obtained results are analysed.