A supplier pre-selection model for multiple products with synergy effect

In practice, it is common for companies to purchase multiple products simultaneously. For the multiple required products, a large number of interested suppliers are involved. It is necessary for the purchasing company to shortlist a small number of qualified and competitive potential suppliers prior to finalising the suppliers for order fulfilment. In addition, synergy effect which is an effect arising between two or more products that produce an effect greater than the sum of their individual effects, could exist in the multi-product supplier selection environment. Since synergy effect between products can affect the choice of suppliers, it is also necessary to incorporate the synergy effect between products in the supplier selection for multiple products. However, few research efforts have been focused on the supplier pre-selection problem, let alone explicitly for multiple products with synergy effect. This paper presents a supplier pre-selection model for multiple products with synergy effect. The model is able to evaluate interested suppliers on the multiple pre-selection criteria, by the fuzzy Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS)-based supplier pre-selection algorithm, and shortlist a small number of potential suppliers. Illustrative examples are conducted to demonstrate the function and application of the supplier pre-selection model for multiple products with synergy effect.