A Team Formation Approach to Supplier Network Design, Considering Multi-Objective Modeling, Fuzzy Inference, and Social Network Analysis

This research developed an approach to reliable team formation and supplier network design, focusing on a multi-objective model integrating fuzzy-set theory and social network analysis. The approach simultaneously focuses on reliable collaboration network, order allocation, capabilities (skills, expertise, knowledge, or competency), backup team, and capacity. Fuzzy logic is used to calculate the relative importance value of relationships between members. The multi-objective model is used for reliable supplier selection and order allocation. Social network analysis is used to suggest network leader(s). The augmented epsilon constraint and grey wolf optimizer (MOGWO) was developed to validate the model. Since the model is NP_HARD, three meta-heuristic algorithms are called a non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-III), non-dominated ranking genetic algorithm (NRGA), and particle swarm optimization algorithm (MOPSO), was developed with a new chromosome structure to validate the solutions. The results have been compared based on the AHP-PROMETHEE with eight performance criteria, showing that the MOGWO works better than the other three algorithms. The results of the experiments in numerical studies demonstrate the efficiency and applicability of the model to solve, large, and small-size problems