Supplier Selection by Using the Goal Programming Approach

Supplier selection problems have been considered widely in literature; however, considering the availability and reliability of the products provided by suppliers has been investigated less. In this regard, the presented work addresses a supplier selection problem in which the reliability of the parts is one of their main factors for supplier selection. This paper develops a multiobjective mathematical goal programming model to allocate the system's components orders to the suppliers. The model minimizes the system construction costs and maximizes the probability of working the system in nominal and half capacity. The similarity of the ordered components affects their delivery lead times and prices. The model determines the optimal solution for an industrial system composed of 4 parts. The proposed approach includes using the reliability block diagram to develop the Markov chain model. A multiobjective binary nonlinear mathematical program uses the Markov model to select the optimal components suppliers. Solving the model by goal programming approach provides the possibility of reflecting the decision-maker opinion relative to the construction cost's importance compared to system availability.