A Flexible Multiple Criteria Sorting Method with Application in Inventory Management

Over the past twenty years, many decision analysis tools have been developed to apply multiple-criteria techniques to sorting. In both of the main approaches, direct judgment and case-based reasoning, alternatives are arranged into a predefined number of groups. In practical applications, however, a decision maker may prefer a sorting method that facilitates effective organization of the alternatives based on interactive adjustment of the group count. This paper proposes an efficient sorting method with this flexibility. A case study in inventory management is carried out to demonstrate the approach.