A multiple criteria sequential sorting procedure

A novel procedure having strategic flexibility is designed to handle multiple criteria sorting problems such that a decision maker (DM) can adjust the group count and fine-tune group numbers to improve sorting efficiency. Its unique features include interactive control, so that the DM can adjust the number of groups and other sorting characteristics; the capacity to aggregate cardinal and ordinal criteria using concepts from data envelopment analysis; and the integration of approximate information about criterion weights, which may help to ensure that the sorting results more closely reflect the DM's intrinsic preferences. A case study in inventory classification is carried out to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed method.