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Environmental sustainability

Sustainable Circular Supplier Evaluation in Project-Driven Supply Chains with a Fuzzy Stochastic Decision Model Under Uncertainty

Strategic Insights

— 2 min read

In a groundbreaking study published in Applied Soft Computing, researchers at the University of Tehran have introduced a novel scenario-based multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) model to evaluate suppliers in project-driven supply chains from a sustainable circular perspective. The model incorporates interval-valued fuzzy soft stochastic sets (IVFSSSs) to tackle uncertainty and the best worst method (BWM) to determine criteria weights. Two actual cases were presented to illustrate the practicality of the proposed model, which has been peer-reviewed.

Key Takeaways:

  • The study emphasizes the importance of evaluating suppliers from a sustainable circular view in project-driven supply chains, considering that construction operations expend 50% of extracted materials and generate 33% of waste.
  • The proposed model is designed to tackle stochastic MCDM (SMCDM) problems, using the beta distribution and its median to address uncertainty.
  • The model incorporates the best worst method (BWM) to determine criteria weights and the weighted distance-based approximation (WDBA) approach to rank suppliers.
  • Two actual cases were presented to demonstrate the practicality of the proposed model, focusing on reverse logistics, energy consumption, and product recycling.
  • Suppliers 7 and 10 were identified as the best in the first case study, while suppliers 5 and 4 were ranked highest in the second case study.
  • Activities 8, 10, and 12 had the lowest level of sustainable circularity in the first case, while B and B1 were identified as the least sustainable in the second case.

Statistics:

  • 50% of extracted materials are expended in construction operations.
  • 33% of waste is generated by construction operations.
  • 2 actual cases were presented to illustrate the practicality of the proposed model.
  • 2 suppliers (7 and 10) and 2 criteria (reverse logistics and energy consumption) were prioritized in the first case study.
  • 2 suppliers (5 and 4) and 2 criteria (cost and quality) were prioritized in the second case study.

Sources:

  • Applied Soft Computing (Journal) - www.journals.elsevier.com/applied-soft-computing/
  • Elsevier (Publisher) - www.elsevier.com
  • University of Tehran (Institution) - no explicit date or timestamp
  • NewRx (News Source) - The copyright notice indicates 2025 as the year, but no specific date is provided.
  • Applied Soft Computing (Journal) article: Sustainable Circular Supplier Evaluation In Project-driven Supply Chains With a Fuzzy Stochastic Decision Model Under Uncertainty (2025; 179)
  • NewsRx (News Source) article: New Sustainability Research Study Findings Recently Were Reported by Researchers at University of Tehran (Sustainable Circular Supplier Evaluation In Project-driven Supply Chains With a Fuzzy Stochastic Decision Model Under Uncertainty) (July 25, 2025; p 379)

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