Supplier selection using grey relational analysis

Selection of appropriate suppliers in supply chain must be based on supplier evaluation and should be done according to various criteria. To respond to increasing competition, shortening product life cycles and rapidly changing customer preferences, many organizations focus on the supply chain as a means to achieve long-term competitive advantage. One of the most important components of the supply chain management is ranking and selection of suppliers and this process is essentially a problem of multi-criteria decision making. Supplier selection issues are complex issues that may require many qualitative and quantitative aspects. In this regard, the grey relational analysis method is applied to select appropriate supplier. First, the Supplier selection criteria are identified and then the grey relational analysis technique is used to determine weights of the criteria. Software application designed to make the process of grey relational analysis; this software performs all calculations and identifies the best option.