A framework for sustainable supplier selection with transportation criteria

ABSTRACT

Appropriate suppliers are essential for optimizing cost in contemporary supply chain decisions. Supplier selection is a challenging issue that requires the evaluation of both quantitative and qualitative criteria based on imprecise and limited information. This study proposes a framework to assess sustainable supplier selection methods using a fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP) and the preference ranking organization method for enrichment evaluation (PROMETHEE). Based on a literature review and expert opinions, 20 sustainable supplier selection criteria were grouped into economic, environmental, social, and transportation dimensions. FAHP was then used to determine the weights of the criteria and PROMETHEE was used to rank the suppliers. The proposed framework was implemented in a ready-made garment company in Bangladesh. The findings showed that ‘price of product,’ ‘profit on product,’ ‘quality of product,’ ‘environmental management system,’ and ‘green packaging and labeling’ were the top five sustainable supplier selection criteria. Business professionals and managers will benefit from this study when identifying suppliers to ensure sustainability in the supply chain.

KEYWORDS:

• Supplier selection
• transportation
• sustainability
• Fuzzy-AHP
• PROMETHEE

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Saikat Anjan Roy

Saikat Anjan Roy received his BSc from the Department of Industrial and Production Engineering at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). His research interests include supply chain management, applied operations research, and intelligent decision making.

Syed Mithun Ali

Dr. Syed Mithun Ali is an Associate Professor in the Department of Industrial and Production Engineering at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology. Dr. Syed Mithun Ali received his Ph.D. majoring in supply chain risk management from Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan in 2016. His research interests include logistics and supply chain management and supply chain risk management and tying that to supply chain sustainability.

Golam Kabir

Dr. Golam Kabir is an Assistant Professor in Industrial Systems Engineering Program at the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Regina, SK, Canada. He received his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from UBC on 2016. His research interests include system risk, reliability, resilience assessment, interdependent network resilience analytics, multi-criteria decision analysis under risk and uncertainty, sustainable system analytics, data-driven decision making, and multi-objective optimization.

Rafid Enayet

Rafid Enayet received his BSc from the Department of Industrial and Production Engineering at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). His research interests include logistics management and application of soft computing techniques in industrial problem-solving.

Saima Ahmed Suhi

Saima Ahmed Suhi received her BSc from the Department of Industrial and Production Engineering at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). Her research interests include supply chain management and supply chain risk management.

Tasmiah Haque

Tasmiah Haque received her BSc from the Department of Industrial and Production Engineering at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). Her research interests include supply chain management and multi-criteria decision making.

Rifat Hasan

Rifat Hasan received his BSc from the Department of Industrial and Production Engineering at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). His research interests include supply chain risk, modelling and simulation, applied operations research.