Fuzzy Trapezoidal DEMATEL Method for Criteria Weights in Supplier Selection: A Case Study of Ice Cream Producer

Abstract

Supplier selection is one of the most critical processes in a food industry. The requirement for manufacturers to work with different suppliers for many materials often requires them to plan their supply systems separately. Supplier selection in the food industry is one of the multi-criteria decision-making problems that food businesses need to evaluate many criteria, both qualitatively and quantitatively. This study was prepared due to the difficulties experienced by an ice cream producer company regarding the supply of auxiliary materials. The aim of the study is to prioritize the criteria that affect the supplier selection decision for the auxiliary materials of an ice cream producer company. It is expected that the findings of the study will contribute to manufacturers with similar procurement processes by presenting a procedure that they can refer to in the supplier selection decision. In practice, seven criteria to guide supplier selection were evaluated by three experts with the Fuzzy-Trapezoidal DEMATEL method. As a result of the study, while quality is the criterion with the highest weight, compliance with prosedures and good supplier profile criteria are determined as other important criteria.