In many cases, business managers rely on experience to evaluate or select suppliers. This can lead to imprecise evaluations because there are many alternatives that can sometimes can be conflicting, depending of the criteria. This study focused on a road equipment factory located in the west of Rio Grande do Norte, which has encountered some problems with suppliers of steel plates, the main raw material required for road equipment production. We attempted to evaluate the suppliers of steel plates using the MCDA approach. With this approach, it was possible to evaluate the performance of suppliers individually for each criterion established by the company. Overall, we were able to identify which of the suppliers would be the best choices for the company. We also found that the MCDA approach can be used to transform tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge for use in enterprises.
Road equipment industry; Supplier selection problem; Multicriteria Decision Aid
