Evaluation and Selection of HazMat Transportation Alternatives: A PHFLTS- and TOPSIS-Integrated Multi-Perspective Approach

• Main Authors: Zhen-Song Chen, Min Li, Wen-Tao Kong, Kwai-Sang Chin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-10-01
• Series: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
• Subjects: hazardous materials transportation; alternative evaluation; proportional hesitant fuzzy linguistic term set; entropy measure; multi-criteria group decision-making
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/21/4116

Outsourcing the hazardous materials (HazMat) transportation is an effective way for manufacturing enterprises to avoid risks and accidents as well as to retain sustainable development in economic growth and social inclusion while not bringing negative impacts on the public and the environment. It is imperative to develop viable and effective approaches to selecting the most appropriate HazMat transportation alternatives. This paper aims at proposing an integrated multi-criteria group decision making approach that combines <i>proportional hesitant fuzzy linguistic term set</i> (PHFLTS) and the <i>Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution</i> (TOPSIS) to address the problem of HazMat transportation alternative evaluation and selection. PHFLTSs are adopted to represent the congregated individual evaluations in a bid to avoid information loss and increase the reliability of results. Two weight assignment models are then proposed to determine the comprehensive weights of experts and criteria. Furthermore, several novel manipulations of PHFLTS are also defined to enrich its applicability. The TOPSIS method is subsequently extended to the context of PHFLTSs to rank alternatives and choose the best one. Eventually, the feasibility and validity of the proposed approach are verified by a practical case study of a HazMat transportation alternative evaluation and selection decision and further comparison analyses.