A Multiattribute Decision Approach for 4PL Supply Base Design

As a supply chain integrator, fourth party logistics (4PL) providers could provide high value services for customers by managing experienced consulting firms, third party logistics (3PL) providers and technology companies. Building supply base that consists of a number of qualified 3PLs is desperately needed for 4PL to deliver comprehensive supply chain solutions. This paper provides a decision framework to support the effective operations for 4PL. Combining the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) with fuzzy comprehensive evaluation (FEC), a multiattribute decision approach called AHP-FEC is proposed for scoring 3PLs. Based on the derived scores, qualified 3PLs are selected to form the supply base. A case study shows that the proposed framework and AHP-FEC could be useful tools for 4PL to appropriately design the supply base.