ORIGINAL ARTICLE A multi-criteria decision-making methodology on the selection of facility location: fuzzy ANP Aşkın Özdağoğlu Received: 13 July 2010 /Accepted: 27 June 2011 # Springer-Verlag London Limited 2011 Abstract Analytical ways to reach the best decisions are the most preferable issues in many business platforms. During the decision processes, besides the measurable variables, there exist qualitative variables, especially if the decision is based on a selection problem. Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and analytic network process (ANP) are two of the best ways to decide among the complex criteria structure in different levels using qualitative variables. When there are interactions between the criteria in different levels of the hierarchy, then AHP cannot be used because of their one-way direction of hierarchy; the ANP has been developed for this kind of need. In this study, a fuzzy ANP method is developed for a multi-criteria facility location selection problem where the criteria set includes interac- tions with each other on the hierarchy structure. Besides the fuzzy ANP model development and implementation on facility location, sensitivity analysis was also originally performed to indicate the upper and lower bounds for the importance levels of alternative locations. Keywords Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) . Fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (fuzzy AHP) . Fuzzy analytic network process (fuzzy ANP) . Sensitivity analysis 1 Introduction People need a systematic and comprehensive approach for decision making because of the person being a decision maker. Especially for the group decision-making processes concerning multiple criteria, besides the measurable varia- bles, there exist qualitative variables, or people are supposed to prefer the best among the many choices; thus, when an analytical way to make a successful decision is needed, the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) is one of the best ways for deciding among the complex criteria structure in different levels; fuzzy AHP is the extension of AHP used for uncertain situations. When there are interactions between the criteria in different levels of the hierarchy, then AHP and fuzzy AHP do not work because of their one-way direction on hierarchy structure; the analytical network process (ANP) has then been developed for this need. The scope of this paper was to develop a basic fuzzy ANP model for facility location selection problem. In the study, a qualitative decision model is developed based on the fuzzy analytic network process and executed on a facility location problem raised in a company from the food industry. The uncertainty in the environment generates another uncertainty for the decision makers. Then, it is more appropriate to develop a model including fuzzy sets and numbers. Another issue about the model is its criteria structure; it is a network rather than a one-directional hierarchy because regular AHP approaches cannot be used directly on the study. Therefore, the model is developed aiming at presenting a systematic approach to facility location and evaluation based on the linguistic evaluations with the fuzzy numbers. The network structure is analyzed by the ANP method in these evaluations. As seen in the ANP methodol- ogy, it requires the AHP method for its sub-matrices, where A. Özdağoğlu Faculty of Business, Department of Business Administration, Division of Production Management and Marketing, Dokuz Eylül University, Izmir, Turkey A. Özdağoğlu (*) Dokuz Eylul University, Faculty of Business, Department of Business Administration, Kaynaklar Kampus, 35160 Buca, Izmir, Turkey e-mail: askin.ozdagoglu@deu.edu.tr Int J Adv Manuf Technol DOI 10.1007/s00170-011-3505-1