Supplier Selection in Smart Manufacturing Systems Based on Cognitive Mapping Graph and Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process

Supplier selection is a critical effect on smart manufacturing systems operation and competitiveness. Fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) is effective decision-making in complex problems. The key component of FAHP is a fuzzy pairwise comparison matrix (FPCM). Traditional extent analysis method lacks the consistency validation and breaks the integrity of fuzzy numbers which leads to that it cannot estimate the true weights from a FPCM. It is still being extensively used in FAHP for the reason of simplicity. To overcome the shortcomings and retain the convenience of calculating the ratios of FPCM, this paper proposes the cognitive mapping to intuitively validate the consistency of FPCM and efficiently calculate the final ratios of criteria without breaking the integrity of fuzzy number by constructing cognitive mapping graph. A case study was carried out to demonstrate the application of the cognitive mapping in the supplier selection and it was also compared with other famous methods. The cognitive mapping in this paper overcomes the shortcomings of extension analysis method, facilitates the consistency validation and process of FPCM, and is conducive to the application of FAHP in the future.