Ranking of the Bottled Water Brands Using Interval Type-2 Fuzzy ELECTRE Method

Abstract

Multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) presents a solution-oriented tool for solving complex decision problems in real life. As the well-known MCDA-family, the conventional ELECTRE and its versions were proposed for different purposes (such as selection-, assignment-, and ranking-problems in decision-making). ELECTRE has uncertainty due to the precise-nature of its decision elements. Type-1 fuzzy sets and their primary memberships handle the uncertainty based on the decision elements in the conventional ELECTRE. However, type-1 fuzzy set has also uncertainty due to the crisp-nature of primary memberships. Secondary memberships in type-2 fuzzy sets deal with the uncertainty in primary memberships of type-1 fuzzy sets. In this study, interval type-2 fuzzy-based ELECTRE method was applied to rank the bottled water brands by five analysis-criteria (pH-value, fluoride, sulfate, chloride, sodium). As a result, the most appropriate water brand-alternative met the cost type criteria better than the other alternatives. © 2022 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.