Supplier Quality Evaluation Using a Fuzzy Multi Criteria Decision Making Approach - Complex System Modelling and Control Through Intelligent Soft Computations - page 194

ideal solutions. Fuzzy set theory is used to model vagueness and uncertainty in
decision making processes arising due to lack of quantitative or precise information
(Zadeh 1965 ; Dubois and Prade 1982 ; Klir and Yuan 1995 ). The supplier quality is
evaluated from multiple perspectives namely product, process, service and orga-
nizational. More details are provided in later sections.
The rest of the paper is organized as follows. In Sect. 2 , we present related works
on supplier quality management. Section 3 presents the proposed methodology for
evaluating quality performance of suppliers. Section 4 presents a case study for the
proposed approach. Section 5 presents the results discussion. In the sixth and the
last section, we present the conclusions and future work.

2 Related Works

Existing studies on supplier quality evaluation can be mainly categorized into
multicriteria decision making approaches, standards and certi cations based

approaches (ISO, Balridge etc.), data mining based approaches, total cost of

ownership based approaches, and empirical studies.
Multicriteria decision making involves evaluating a set of alternatives by a
committee of decision makers. Examples of multicriteria decision making tech-
niques are AHP, TOPSIS, ELECTRE, PROMETHEE etc. Chin et al. ( 2006 ) pro-
pose an AHP based assessment system for supplier quality management. Pi and
Low ( 2006 ) perform supplier evaluation and selection via Taguchi loss functions
and AHP. de Boer et al. ( 1998 ) present outranking methods in support of supplier
selection. Ho et al. ( 2011 ) present a combined QFD and AHP approach for strategic
sourcing in manufacturing. Chin et al. ( 2006 ) propose an AHP based assessment
system for supplier quality management. For a detailed review on multicriteria
decision making techniques for supplier evaluation and selection, please refer to
Chai et al. ( 2013 ) and Ho et al. ( 2010 ).
The standards and certi

cations based approaches rely on ISO, Malcolm
Baldrige, Deming award etc. for supplier quality evaluation. Lee et al. ( 2003 )
propose an ISO 9001 system based multiobjective programming model for supplier
quality evaluation. The appraisal factors include Quality management system audit,
Product cation, Process

capability index and Annual training hours per employee. Grieco ( 1989 ) study the
role of certi

test, Percentage of workforce with a technical quali

cation in assuring supplier quality and supported its role in increasing
buyer-supplier partnership, trust and communication. Lee et al. ( 2008 ) propose an
integrated model for supplier quality performance assessment in the semiconductor
industry using ISO 9001 management framework, importance-performance analysis
and Taguchi

'

s signal-to-noise ratio techniques. Vokurka and Lummus ( 2003 ) study
Baldrige awards for better supply chains and emphasize on information sharing,
customized production, reducing the number of suppliers, flexibility, co-ordination

and employee involvement and focus on end-users for supply chain excellence.
Curkovic and Hand

fl

eld ( 2006 ) study the use of ISO 9000 and Baldrige Award