D-ANP: a multiple criteria decision making method for supplier selection

Supplier selection can be regarded as a classic multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) problem. To a great extent, experts' evaluations play a decisive role in the decision-making process. There will inevitable exist a variety of indefinite factors, which result from imprecision, uncertainty, and fuzziness due to the subjective judgment of human beings. As an effective tool to express uncertain information, the theory of D numbers performs better in comparison to other existing methods. In addition to that, analytic network process (ANP) method is applied more broadly for its advantages of flexibility, rationality and creditability than analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method. In this study, the D-ANP methodology is proposed to apply in the field of supplier selection, which is the extension of the traditional ANP method using D numbers. The validity of the presented methodology is illustrated by an application for supplier selection.