The diploma thesis deals with the evaluation of suppliers security systems to a selected company. After a thorough analysis of the company, a decision model was created based on the fuzzy logic in MS Excel and MATLAB environment. These models serve as a decision support and allow to evaluate individual offers.

Master's thesis will deal with the evaluation of the tender for supplier of inventory system using advanced artificial intelligence methods. For solution will be used MS Excel and MATLAB programming and its Toolboxes.

Context: The main topic of the study - sustainable supplier evaluations in the insurance industry, is evaluated by looking at opportunities for improvement in the study´s main company, and then based on these shortcomings identify and propose areas of improvement. These areas concern a development of overall criterias within the insurance industry as well as within a business-specific part, in this case workshops. These criterias are then applied in the quantitative method TOPSIS where ranking of suppliers is carried out. Based on this ranking, companies can make sustainable supplier choices of either already existing or new suppliers. Purpose: The study aims to identify potentials in Länsförsäkring Kronoberg´s current evaluation of suppliers regarding workshops . This study produces new overall sustainability criteria within the insurance industry as well as a number of business-specific criteria which are applied in an existing model for supplier evaluation. The goal is for the results to be applicable to other companies in the insurance industry, which is based on the study´s second question. Method: This qualitative case study is based on a deductive approach. Theory and empirical evidence have mainly been taken from scientific articles, but also literary sources, interviews and websites. The selection of respondents has been carried out in a strategic way and a targeted selection has been used.  Results: Possibilities for improvement identified in Länsförsäkring Kronobergs´current supplier evaluation regarding workshops are based on identified potentials regarding lack of clarity and a comparison problem. Based on newly developed criteria implemented in the TOPSIS method, there is greater clarity in what the supplier needs to work on to increase its sustainability rating. With the results of this study it is possible to make simple comparisons between suppliers on all of the criterias´. In addition to this, the result of the study provides a grade that differentiate the suppliers by using decimals, which were previously missing and therefore led to a large part of the suppliers being on the same grade. Contribution: The study contributes to a more transparent and comparable supplier evaluation based on all aspects of sustainability and can be further applied within the insurance industry, which in the near future will be under greater pressure regarding sustainability. Other companies that want to develop their supplier evaluation can also take advantage of the results of this study to implement overall criteria in their own operations and put together their own experts who will identify business-specific criteria for their particular business. The method of developing and applying criteria in TOPSIS can be replicated, but the authors of the study suggest that companies outside the insurance industry create their own appropriate criteria. / Kontext: Studien berör ämnet hållbara leverantörsutvärderingar inom försäkringsbranschen. Detta genom att först och främst se till förbättringsmöjligheter hos studiens fallföretag, för att sedan med grund utifrån dessa möjligheter finna förbättringsåtgärder. Förbättringsåtgärderna som föreslås är ett framtagande av övergripande kriterier inom försäkringsbranschen samt inom en verksamhetsspecifik del i form av verkstäder. Dessa kriterier appliceras sedan i den kvantitativa metoden TOPSIS där rangordning av leverantörer genomförs. Utifrån denna rangordning kan företag göra hållbara leverantörsval av antingen redan befintliga eller nya leverantörer. Syfte: Studien syftar till att identifiera och finna lösningar på de potentialer som identifierats inom Länsförsäkring Kronobergs nuvarande utvärdering av deras verkstadsleverantörer. Denna studie tar fram nya övergripande hållbarhetskriterier inom försäkringsbranschen samt ett antal verksamhetsspecifika kriterier som sedan appliceras i en befintlig modell för att få fram en leverantörsutvärdering av verkstäder. Målet är att resultatet ska vara tillämpbart på övriga bolag inom försäkringsbranschen, vilket grundas i studiens andra frågeställning. Metod: Denna kvalitativa fallstudie bygger på ett deduktivt angreppssätt. Teori och empiri har främst hämtats från vetenskapliga artiklar, men även litterära källor, intervjuer och webbsidor. Valet av respondenter har genomförts på ett strategiskt sätt och ett målstyrt urval har använts. Resultat: Förbättringsmöjligheter som identifierats i Länsförsäkring Kronobergs nuvarande leverantörsutvärdering gällande verkstäder tar sin grund i otydlighet samt en jämförelseproblematik. Utifrån nya framtagna kriterier som implementerats i metoden TOPSIS, har en större tydlighet i vad leverantören behöver arbeta med för att öka sitt hållbarhetsbetyg. Numera är det möjligt att göra enkla jämförelser mellan leverantörer på respektive kriterium. Utöver detta landar resultatet av studien i ett betyg som faktiskt skiljer leverantörerna åt med hjälp av decimaler, som tidigare saknats och därför lett till att en stor del av leverantörerna legat på samma betyg. Bidrag: Studien bidrar till en mer transparent och jämförbar leverantörsutvärdering utifrån samtliga hållbarhetsaspekter och kan appliceras vidare inom försäkringsbranschen, som inom en snar framtid kommer att vara med om ett högre på att redovisa hållbarhet. Även övriga bolag som vill utveckla sin leverantörsutvärdering, kan ta del av denna studiens resultat för att implementera övergripande kriterier på egen verksamhet samt ta fram egna experter som identifierar verksamhetsspecifika kriterier för just deras verksamhet. Metoden i att ta fram och applicera kriterier i TOPSIS går att replikera, men studiens skribenter föreslår att branscher utanför försäkringsbranschen skapar egna passande kriterier.

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Background: T-Emballage is an established retailer of packaging materials with a specialization in customer-unique packaging solutions. For T-Emballage, it is crucial to adapt to the increasing importance of packaging materials as an opportunity for value creation and differentiation in an industry where customer demands are increasing, which requires active cooperation with suppliers to be at the forefront. Effective supplier development improves supplier capabilities and performance, helping buyers achieve cost reductions, productivity improvements, quality improvements and optimal resource utilization. SMEs are often characterized by limited resources, which makes it especially essential for these companies to develop the right supplier in the right way. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify and explore activities for supplier development based on a portfolio analysis and supplier evaluation, with a focus on improving the quality, price and service of T-Emballage’s various suppliers. Furthermore, the study aims to investigate the potential cost-related effects that can be achieved when implementing the recommended activities for T-Emballage’s strategic suppliers. By achieving this, the study aims to offer insights and recommendations for effective supplier development for retail SMEs in the packaging industry. Method: The study employs a qualitative approach with quantitative elements, where the first research question is primarily qualitative and the second, quantitative. Data collection was conducted through structured, semi-structured, and unstructured interviews. Furthermore, data was gathered from two focus groups, as well as directly from T-Emballage’s business system and statistical programs. Conclusion: The study finds that T-Emballage’s nine largest suppliers, in terms of spend, require different activities for supplier development. For the strategic suppliers, whose performance in the supplier evaluation had room for improvement, direct activities are recommended, in the categories of training and support, technical development, communication and collaboration as well as evaluation and assessment. For the strategic suppliers that have performed well based on the supplier evaluation, along with the bottleneck supplier, non-critical and the leverage supplier, various indirect supplier development activities are recommended. Furthermore, it appears that the implementation of the recommended supplier development activities for T-Emballage’s strategic suppliers potentially generate both cost increases and reductions. The indirect activities offer the greatest potential for cost reductions, while several of the direct ones were considered unfeasible considering, among other things, the resources that would be required. Contribution: The study contributes to filling a research gap regarding supplier development for retail SMEs in the packaging industry. By using portfolio analysis and supplier evaluation, the study offers a unique framework to determine appropriate supplier development activities for different suppliers. In addition, the results of the study constitute a significant decision basis for T-Emballage in terms of the choice of supplier development activities. The study’s societal contribution lies in promoting an ethical supply chain practice through supplier development, fostering long-term stability, potentially benefiting the wider community through improved economic growth and responsible business conduct.

ABB is a global company with a leading position in power and automation technologies. Being active on a global market creates a high pressure to always develop the business and reduce costs in order to stay competitive. The purchasing function at ABB ́s unit Control Products is divided into a strategic- and an operative purchase department. The negotiated setups the strategic purchasers establish with the suppliers have been shown to affect the transport- and inventory costs that are charged to the operative purchase department. In order to determine whether more beneficial setups could be negotiated by including transport- and inventory costs when they are evaluated, this case study has been requested. Two master students from Linköping University have conducted the study and by investigating different setups, conclusions to answer the study ́s purpose could be drawn. The purpose is presented below. The study’s purpose is to recommend future guidelines for the strategic purchasers at ABB’s unit Control Products that can be applied when negotiating with suppliers, by evaluating purchase-, transport- and inventory costs. In order to investigate how the purchase-, transport- and inventory costs were affected by different setups, four different cases were defined. Each case included a specific article, which was chosen based on its properties and its current and alternative setups. The conducted literature reviews and interviews with employees at Control Products resulted in the two sub- criteria lead time and net price were defined as the most important ones when negotiating and evaluating suppliers. A combination of these sub-criteria was therefore used to choose suitable articles. Once the cases had been defined, the purchase-, transport- and inventory costs could be calculated for both their current situation and alternative setup scenarios. Theories from relevant researches were used to strengthen and criticised the cases’ results. Each case's result provided information regarding how the purchase-, transport- and inventory costs were affected by specific setups. By comparing the alternative scenarios with the setup currently used, the alternatives ́ profitability could be determined. The cases showed that by only studying one of the three cost posts, only a limited insight was gained. Even if the purchase cost was to increase for an alternative setup, it could still be profitable to implement due to decreased transport- and inventory costs. Furthermore, an alternative setup that showed significant potential to reduce inventory costs was proven to not be profitable because of its effect on the net price. Neglecting to take transport- and inventory costs into account when a potential supplier is evaluated can make a deal look more profitable than it is. The final recommendation is that purchase-, transport- and inventory costs all have to be taken into consideration in order to determine which setups that are economically preferable. If the strategic purchasers at Control Products includes these when they negotiate with suppliers, more profitable deals can be obtained. / <p>Examensarbetet är en förvrängd version då känslig information om ABB inte ska läcka ut.</p>

[pt] Para que as empresas, que desenvolvem os grandes projetos do setor mineral no Pará, possam se manter com o seu abastecimento contínuo e com qualidade, faz-se necessário que seus fornecedores entendam claramente quais as suas reais necessidades, considerando seus contextos de operação no estado. Para isso, as empresas do setor mineral, atuantes no estado, devem adotar critérios e subcritérios que sejam capazes de não só avaliar de forma consistente o nível de serviço prestado em cada fornecimento, mas também de identificar quais fornecedores estão, e continuam se mantendo, aptos a prestar um fornecimento de qualidade, disponibilizando ainda, aos fornecedores locais, informações primordiais para oportunizar iniciativas destes quanto à melhoria de desempenho em suas atividades. De acordo com esta realidade, esta pesquisa tem como objetivo propor a Análise Multicritérios, no caso o AHP, como um método para definir um conjunto consistente de critérios e subcritérios capazes de avaliar os fornecedores de empresas de mineração do Estado do Pará, oferecendo ainda um mecanismo de análise para tomada de decisão referente à avaliação, à seleção e ao desenvolvimento destes fornecedores. Este modelo se dará a partir da construção de uma árvore de critérios que represente as necessidades de fornecimento do setor mineral no Estado do Pará. Tal método pode ser aplicado em forma de questionário manual ou com a ajuda de softwares especializados, como o Expert Choice, podendo ser utilizado o modelo mais geral ou com a flexibilidade de se adequar as peculiaridades de cada empresa que o adotará. / [en] For companies that develop major projects in the mining sector in Pará, to continue with its continuous supply and quality, it is necessary that suppliers clearly understand their real needs, considering their contexts of operation in the state. For this, the mineral sector companies that, operate in the state must adopt criteria and sub-criteria that are not only able to consistently evaluate the level of service at each delivery, but also to identify which suppliers are, and shall continue to be, able to provide a supply of quality, providing further local suppliers, creating opportunity for critical information such as initiatives to improve performance in their activities. According to this reality, this research aims to propose a Multicriteria Analysis, where the AHP is as a method to define a consistent set of criteria and sub-criteria to evaluate suppliers capable of supporting mining companies in the state of Pará, offering yet an analysis mechanism for making decisions regarding evaluation, selection and development of suppliers. This model will be based on the construction of a tree of criteria that represent the needs of supply of the mineral sector in the State of Pará This method can be applied in the form of questionnaire to be filled manually or with the help of a specialized software such as Expert Choice, which can be used on the more general model with the flexibility to suit the peculiarities of each company that might consider its adoption.

Cette thèse traite de la problématique de la performance durable d’une chaîne logistiques. Le travail de recherche se décline en trois phases : la première phase porte sur l’étude des approches existantes pour la mesure la performance durable des chaînes logistiques. L’approche proposée permet alors à une entreprise, de déterminer plus facilement les critères spécifiques de mesure de la durabilité. Cette approche comporte huit critères de durabilité à savoir : valeur financière, valeur non-financière, matière première, ressources naturelles, énergie, santé humaine et sécurité, développement des ressources humaines et l’éthique. Ces critères ont été développés à partir du concept des « Human needs » et le concept de «Triple Bottom » avec la prise en compte des aspects règlementaires, normatifs et lignes directrices.Nous avons développé un modèle de mesure de la performance durable des chaines logistiques. Ce modèle est un cadre amélioré du « value Chain model » (Porter, 2008) et de l’approche processus (Chan and Qi, 2003) permettant l’implémentation de l’approche développée. Cette proposition permet à l’entreprise de mesurer la performance durable de ses processus et de ses activités aussi bien en interne que sur le niveau chaine logistique. Pour implémenter et tester l’approche développée, nous avons sélectionné le cas concret du problème d’évaluation de la performance durable d’un fournisseur.La deuxième phase de ce travail est le développement de l’outil de mesure de la performance durable basé sur la méthode FAHP (Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process) avec une application au cas de l’évaluation des fournisseurs. Il ne s’agit pas de sélectionner le meilleur fournisseur mais d’aider l’entreprise à mettre en place un plan d’action basé sur les résultats obtenus. Pour construire ce modèle, nous avons proposé un cadre de choix entre trois méthodes possibles : la méthode « Extent Analysis Method »(Méthode I), la méthode de normalisation (Méthode II) et la méthode arithmétique des t-norme (Méthode III) pour déterminer les poids flous. La méthode I est plus simple mais elle obtient la plus grande propagation floue comparée aux deux autres méthodes. Les résultats de mesure des performances du fournisseur permettent d’orienter les actions d’amélioration à travers l’utilisation des facteurs de normalisation proposés dans le modèle formel de mesure.La troisième et dernière phase de ce travail fut l’implémentation du système de mesure et les méthodes FAHP dans une étude de cas au sein d’une industrie d’électronique en Thaïlande. La société étudiée visait à évaluer la performance durable de ses fournisseurs en vue d’améliorer leurs performances. Le modèle de mesure de la performance durable comportait dix indicateurs et vingt-cinq mesures de durabilité sur les trois dimensions (économique, environnementale et sociale). Nous avons constaté que les poids de la dimension économique, environnementale et sociale étaient respectivement de 50.87%, 34.86%, et 15.14% respectivement. Cela signifie que les performances économiques étaient les plus importantes et que les performances sociales étaient les moins importantes dans l’évaluation des fournisseurs. La société étudiée travaille avec plus de deux cents fournisseurs. A cause de ce grand nombre de fournisseur, une approche de mesure absolue a été adoptée pour l’évaluation des performances de chaque fournisseur. Cependant, nous avons sélectionné cinq fournisseurs pour l’implémentation et la validation de notre modèle. Les résultats de cette étude de cas ont montré que les méthodes FAHP proposées sont adaptées au contexte industriel et sont moins compliquées que la méthode lambda-max par exemple. / This thesis aims to clarify a sustainability implementation into supply chain and to develop a tool for measuring sustainability performance in supply chain and improving the sustainability performance for electronic industry in Thailand. This research has divided into three phases; the first phase is to clarify a sustainability measurement framework in supply chain. This framework allows decision makers identifying the sustainability measures based on their interesting area in sustainability criteria. There are eight categories of sustainability criteria in this framework which are financial, non-financial, raw material, natural resources, energy, human health and safety, human resources development, and ethical issues. The sustainability criteria in this framework have developed based on the concept of human needs and the triple bottom line concept. It have been justified by analyze with standard, guide line, and regulation involving sustainable development perspective. Moreover, this proposed framework enhances an engagement level of elements in supply chain as an important perspective to identifying the sustainability measures. After developing the conceptual framework for measuring sustainability performance, this thesis has proposed an approach to construct the performance measurement model. This work enhances the valuable of adopting the value chain model (Porter, 2008) and the process based approach (Chan and Qi, 2003) for constructing the sustainability measures model. This leads to an implementation of the proposed framework allowing decision makers to measures sustainability performance in any process or activity in the company and its supply chain. In order to implementing the proposed conceptual framework and the model construction method in practical situation, this thesis has selected the supplier performance evaluation problem for measuring sustainability performance.The second phase of this work is the development of the tool for measuring sustainability performance by focusing on supplier evaluation problem. The measurement tool is developed based on multi-criteria decision method. This model is not used for making a decision such as selecting the best supplier but it is a multicriteria decision aiding which help manager to establish supplier improvement program based on the results. The measurement tool is developed based on a fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP) approach. This thesis has proposed three FAHP methods by modified the extent analysis method (Method-I), modified the normalization approach (Method-II), and employed the weakest t-norm arithmetic (Method-III) for determining the fuzzy priority weight. These methods are easy to adopt in real-life problem in industry. The method-I is less complexity than method-II and method-III respectively but the method-I also obtains the larger fuzzy spread than method-II and method-III respectively. It is depends on the decision makers to select the proposed FAHP among these three methods for implementing in their situations. The results from supplier’s performance help manager for setting the direction to improve supplier’s sustainability by using the normalization rating from measurement model.The third phase of this thesis is an implementation of the proposed framework and proposed FAHP in the case study company in Thai electronics industry. The case study company aims to evaluate sustainability performance of their suppliers in order to manage and improve supplier’s performance. The sustainability performance measurement model consists of 10 indicators and 25 sustainability measures based on three dimensions (economic, environmental, and social). It is found that the importance weight of economic, environmental, and social dimension are 50.87%, 34.86%, and 15.14% respectively. It means that an economic performance is still the most important and the social performance is the less important of supplier’s evaluation....

Background: Performance measurement as a management control tool has received considerable academic attention. As the number of inter-organisational relationships, such as customer-supplier relationships, increases, there is a new scope for performance measurement as a management control tool. In order for a company to assess the effectiveness of its supplier relationships it has to define, measure and evaluate variables that are critical for the success of the relationship. The role of management control, and thereby of performance measurement, has increasingly been discussed in theory. However, empirical research in this area is still somewhat limited. Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to analyse how performance measurement in inter-organisational relationships should be designed in order to be effective. Results: Theory which is applicable on performance measurement as a control tool in general also appears to be applicable on performance measurement as a control tool in inter-organisational relationships. Exactly which requirements performance measurement should meet, in order to be effective, is difficult to establish since they often imply a trade-off between different factors. In order to be effective, performance measurement partly needs to be adjusted to the situation, which adds yet a dimension to, and difficulty of, performance measurement in inter-organisational relationships.