Title: Development of a composite model for selection of third party logistics service provider

Authors: R. Rajesh, S. Pugazhendhi, C. Muralidharan, K. Ganesh

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Noorul Islam University, Kumarakoil 629180, India. ' Department of Manufacturing Engineering, Annamalai University, Chidambaram 608002, India. ' Department of Manufacturing Engineering, Annamalai University, Chidambaram 608002, India. ' Integrated Supply Chain, Manufacturing Industry Solutions Unit, Tata Consultancy Services Limited, Vikhroli West, Mumbai 400079, India

Abstract: The selection process of third party logistics (3PL) service provider with multiple criteria is little sceptical in the current competitive and uncertain market/economic scenario. To overcome the uncertainty, fuzziness in the multi-criteria needs to be accounted. This research focuses on the development of a composite model for selection of 3PL service provider with multiple criteria under fuzzy situation. The composite model comprises two folds: 1) evaluation of 3PL service provider based on multiple criteria by integration of fuzzy logic and analytic hierarchy process; 2) ranking of 3PL service providers based on technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) technique. The objective is to decrease the influence of decision-maker|s subjective preferences and control the uncertain and imprecise variation during the evaluation process. The devised composite model has been demonstrated through an illustrative example.

Keywords: third party logistics; 3PL; service providers; selection process; analytical hierarchy process; AHP; fuzzy logic; TOPSIS; composite modelling; supplier selection.

DOI: 10.1504/IJECRM.2009.029297

International Journal of Electronic Customer Relationship Management, 2009 Vol.3 No.4, pp.375 - 401

Published online: 18 Nov 2009 *

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