AN ANALYTIC HIERARCHY METHOD FOR ANTICIPATING THE SELECTION OF THE SUPPLYING STRATEGY AT THE DESIGN STAGE

Abstract

The selection of cost-efficient supplying strategy is a process that involves different aspects, most of them linked with the design phase. Usually, this activity is performed at the procurement stage and does not engage designers and engineers who have drawn up the quality and cost characteristics of products. The paper presents a simplified analytic hierarchy process (AHP) for the concurrent evaluation of economic and quality factors of different supplying strategies. The goal of the AHP is to provide a tangible tool for designers and engineers for comparing supplying alternatives early in the design process. The hierarchy approach is used to organize objectives, criteria and alternatives according to priorities. A complex assembly of a machine tool has been analysed as a case study and four different suppliers with different features have been investigated using the AHP. Results highlight that, even if the lowest production cost can be obtained with Far East suppliers, considering quality criteria, national or local suppliers turn out to be the more appropriate and robust choice. The sensitivity analysis is beneficial to understand the level of confidence associated with the selection of one supplier in comparison with the other supplying strategies. Keywords: analytic hierarchy process, manufacturing strategy, supplier selection, vendor rating, product design.