Logical approach for evaluation of supply chain alternatives

The supply chain of manufacturing industry has been under constant pressure to improve competitiveness, and supply chain network design is generally seen as one of the important means of resolution. The design or redesign of supply chain network entails taking decisions on a range of strategic issues, including the selection of suppliers, choosing the transportation link/node, location and selection of warehouses, etc. Total cost to serve is often used as the major factor in evaluation of supply chain network design, whereas enough attention in including the importance of customers for the evaluation of network remains challenging. The purpose of this study is to propose a logical approach by which the importance of customer weightage can be included in the evaluation of supply chain network design. The logical approach uses the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique for evaluation. The logical approach is demonstrated with a numerical example.