A new comprehensive framework for ranking accepted orders and supplier selection in make-to-order environments

This paper presents a new decision making framework for supplier selection in a make-to-order-system (MTO) while establishing an information loop between ldquosalerdquo and ldquopurchasingrdquo functions which play important roles in successful satisfying of customers. The order entry stage outputs, including accepted orders' requirements and their priorities are reflected into the supplier selection phase; and in return, the outputs of the supplier selection model are fed back into the sale department to revise the orders attributes according to the system's supplying capabilities. A ranking procedure using fuzzy data-envelopment-analysis (DEA) and multi attribute utility model (i.e. similarity to ideal solution TOPSIS) is applied to determine the relative ranking of accepted orders; in the next phase a goal programming supplier selection model focusing on three criteria of time, cost and quality is run to determine the best ability of the system in supplying required components and materials of the accepted orders.