Title: Partner selection in a manufacturing virtual enterprise based on intuitionistic fuzzy sets

Authors: Bin Huang; Liang Chen

Addresses: College of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350108, China ' College of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350108, China

Abstract: In this paper, a new method based on intuitionistic fuzzy sets is proposed to solve the partner selection problem in a manufacturing virtual enterprise. Based on the concept of average delivery time satisfaction degree, the formulated partner selection problem is interpreted so as to maximise the score of average delivery time satisfaction degree. The model takes into account the factors of average delivery time satisfaction degree, due date, cost and the precedence of tasks. To solve the problem, an improved particle swarm optimisation (PSO) algorithm is proposed. Finally, the simulation of a numerical example and comparisons with the standard PSO algorithm demonstrate that the improved PSO algorithm can effectively improve the searching quality, and the method is effective.

Keywords: partner selection; virtual enterprises; intuitionistic fuzzy sets; particle swarm optimisation; PSO; manufacturing industry; average delivery time; due dates; costs; precedence tasks; simulation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMTM.2014.066694

International Journal of Manufacturing Technology and Management, 2014 Vol.28 No.4/5/6, pp.349 - 362

Received: 16 Aug 2013
Accepted: 06 Feb 2014
Published online: 11 Jan 2015 *

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