Using AHP Approach, Evaluation of Quality: A Case Study with Respect to a Washing Machine Company

Resumen

Supplier evaluation is performed by companies to continuously improve quality, to mitigate risks, to reduce costs or to improve performance. Thus, it forms an important and integral function that a company carries out to remain competitive in a given market. This paper attempts to propose a model that can assist a washing machine company to evaluate the quality aspect of its suppliers. This model is based on the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) approach, which follows the principle of Linear Weighing Model. This paper is an attempt to give a variation of the traditional and a very common method that is widely used in many companies to evaluate the quality aspect ? the quality history which is either about the percentage or parts per million of non-conformance components supplied. So, this paper suggests that along with the past quality history other parameters can also largely help in supplier evaluation and so this work has tried to identify the important criteria that may enable the company to not just evaluate the suppliers? performance, but also to concentrate in those areas where improvements may be required. It also tries to exhibit how a multi-criteria decision-making method can ease the work of a Vendor Management or a Quality Department in evaluating the quality aspect of their suppliers.