A Hybrid Approach Using AHP And TOPSIS Techniques to Improve Supplier Selection Scheme for Packaging Stage in Pharmaceutical Industries

Supplier selection is crucial for maintaining product quality, ensuring safety, and supporting an effective and reliable supply chain. Choosing the best supplier is a key decision for any organization, not only in terms of providing optimal resources, goods, or services at an acceptable cost, but also in improving environmental performance. This study addresses the limitations of traditional supplier evaluation methods by incorporating both subjective and objective criteria. It proposes a hybrid approach that combines the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) to enhance supplier selection for packaging materials in pharmaceutical industries. The proposed methodology is applied to a real application involving packaging material suppliers, utilizing 15 pairwise comparison matrices of main and sub-criteria. These criteria include quality and safety, delivery, cost/facility, and responsiveness. AHP is employed to determine the importance of evaluation criteria, while TOPSIS ranks suppliers based on their performances. By integrating these methods, the study aims to streamline supplier selection, contributing to a more efficient, effective, and reliable supply chain. The research highlights its contribution in reducing purchasing risks, maximizing value, meeting quality standards, and prioritizing sustainability.