%0 Journal Article
%T Multiobjective Stochastic Programming for Mixed Integer Vendor Selection Problem Using Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm
%A Mostafa Ekhtiari
%A Shahab Poursafary
%J ISRN Artificial Intelligence
%D 2013
%R 10.1155/2013/795752
%X It has been always critical and inevitable to select and assess the appropriate and efficient vendors for the companies such that all the aspects and factors leading to the importance of the select process should be considered. This paper studies the process of selecting the vendors simultaneously in three aspects of multiple criteria, random factors, and reaching efficient solutions with the objective of improvement. Thus, selecting the vendors is introduced in the form of a mixed integer multiobjective stochastic problem and for the first time it is converted by CCGC (min-max) model to a mixed integer nonlinear single objective deterministic problem. As the converted problem is nonlinear and solving it in large scale will be time-consuming then the artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm is used to solve it. Also, in order to better understand ABC efficiency, a comparison is performed between this algorithm and the particle swarm optimization (PSO) and the imperialist competitive algorithm (ICA) and Lingo software output. The results obtained from a real example show that ABC offers more efficient solutions to the problem solving in large scale and PSO spends less time to solve the same problem. 1. Introduction In a competitive environment, to select and evaluate vendors are among the most important issues ahead of manufacturing companies as the expenses of procuring raw materials largely contribute to the final cost of a product. Vendor selection is one of the most important activities of a purchasing department and the selection of an appropriate vendor could largely result in decreases in purchase costs, delivery time, and an increase in customers¡¯ satisfaction and company¡¯s competition power. Companies are better off selecting as many appropriate vendors as they could commensurate with the production capacity of all potential vendors and establishing long lasting and useful relationships with them. What brings about desirable results for companies managers in their decisions on selecting vendors is the selection of vendors based on three aspects of multiple criteria, random factors, and the quality of the obtained results simultaneously. The selection process and the evaluation of vendors are a multiple objective issue indeed so that more than one criterion could be considered during this process. Moreover, decisions related to the selection of vendors become more intricate when different criteria are to be simultaneously dealt with in the decision making process. In the various evaluation methods proposed in the available literature, price,
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/isrn.artificial.intelligence/2013/795752/