Clustering and selecting suppliers based on simulated annealing algorithms

This study proposes two optimization mathematical models for the clustering and selection of suppliers. Model 1 performs an analysis of supplier clusters, according to customer demand attributes, including production cost, product quality and production time. Model 2 uses the supplier cluster obtained in Model 1 to determine the appropriate supplier combinations. The study additionally proposes a two-phase method to solve the two mathematical models. Phase 1 integrates k-means and a simulated annealing algorithm with the Taguchi method (TKSA) to solve for Model 1. Phase 2 uses an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) for Model 2 to weight every factor and then uses a simulated annealing algorithm with the Taguchi method (ATSA) to solve for Model 2. Finally, a case study is performed, using parts supplier segmentation and an evaluation process, which compares different heuristic methods. The results show that TKSA+ATSA provides a quality solution for this problem.