Supplier evaluation using AHP for a small scale iron and steel plant in eastern India

The paper presents a multi-criteria decision-making model for evaluation of suppliers using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) for a small-scale sponge iron and steel plant in eastern India. A systematic research framework has been proposed for the same. The process uses a pair-wise comparison of the criterion importance based on decision-makers' opinions to find their relative weights. The main criteria are identified based on literature review and experts' opinions. The criteria are cost, delivery, quality, location, communication, management, performance history and reputation. The next stage involves a pair-wise comparison of the suppliers based on each criterion to find their relative importance. Overall sensitivity analysis has been conducted using MS Excel to inspect the flexibility of the model for evaluating suppliers, i.e., how the change in the ranking of the suppliers occurs when there is a change in relative weightage of criteria.