A Fuzzy MCDM Model for Facility Location Evaluation Based on Quality of Life

The decision for facility location selection is an important one in the context of management of Supply Chain (SC). Facility location decision affects the overall SC performance, since there is an influence on the cost, delivery speed, service levels and effectiveness of SC. Hence it is essential to evaluate the impact of selection of each facility location. In addition to the traditional criteria such as market, labor, transportation, community and climate, Quality of Life (QOL) has also become an important factor for sustainable facility location selection decision. Since QOL includes aspects of social, economic, environmental, and psychological well-being therefore quantification of QOL for facility location evaluation is a challenging task. Due to subjectivity of the decision makers, vagueness sets in the decision making process and hence fuzzy decision making approach is required for handling the vagueness in assessment of QOL factor. Thus the present study considers an effective integrated approach using Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (FAHP) and Fuzzy Technique for Order Performance by Similarity to Ideal Solution (FTOPSIS) for evaluation of facility locations, considering the criteria of QOL. FAHP is used for calculating the weight of each QOL criterion and FTOPSIS methodology is used for computing the rank of the facility location options under the fuzzy environment. The application of this integrated approach is applied to case of an Indian manufacturing company.