A grey decision-making and factor analysis technique approach to the supplier selection problem: A case study of Sazeh Gostar Saipa Company

Supplier Selection is a Multiple-Attribute Decision- Making (MADM). The Grey Decision-Making method is a proper technique for ranking suppliers in cases where the existing qualitative attribute is in an uncertain environment. Taking Advantages of the grey theory concept, linguistic variables areturned in togrey numbers and then used in MADM techniques. But an important issue in most MADM techniques such asTOPSISmethod is independencerequest of attributes, which if notconsidered, may lead to false results. The proposed approach in this article is Factor Analysis(FA) technique for determination of independent factors and their substitution with attributes in grey TOPSIS method.In the proposed approach,independent factors areobtained by FA technique after determination ofthe weights of attributes and making initial grey decision- making matrix. Weight of any factor is obtained from average of the attribute's weight related to its factor. Alsocomponents of the grey decision- making matrix after FA rank will be obtainedfrom average of attribute components related to any factor in initial decision- making matrix. Finally, the suppliers are being ranked by using grey possibility degree. In this paper, the suggested approach has been used to ranking the five suppliers of SazehGostarSaipa company.