A multi-criteria intuitionistic fuzzy group decision making for supplier selection with TOPSIS method

Supplier selection, the process of finding the right suppliers who are able to provide the buyer with the right quality products and/or services at the right price, at the right time and in the right quantities, is one of the most critical activities for establishing an effective supply chain. On the other hand, it is a hard problem since supplier selection is typically a multi criteria group decision-making problem involving several conflicting criteria on which decision maker's knowledge is usually vague and imprecise. In this study, TOPSIS method combined with intuitionistic fuzzy set is proposed to select appropriate supplier in group decision making environment. Intuitionistic fuzzy weighted averaging (IFWA) operator is utilized to aggregate individual opinions of decision makers for rating the importance of criteria and alternatives. Finally, a numerical example for Supplier selection is given to illustrate application of intuitionistic fuzzy TOPSIS method. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.