A personal-computer assisted decision support system for private versus common carrier selection

This paper presents a personal-computer assisted decision support system (DSS) which aims at aiding logistics managers in selecting the most appropriate transportation choice between private and common carriers. In contrast with a traditional stand-alone system, this DSS is designed for integration with the company's internal data base systems, the analytic hierarchy process model base and user controlled dialogue systems for ‘what-if’ scenarios. The Master Lock case example provided in this paper illustrates how the proposed DSS can be utilized for carrier selection decisions and related contingency planning in dynamic distribution environments.