A new model for inventory items classification through integration of ABC-fuzzy and fuzzy analytic hierarchy process

Inventory items are usually grouped into two categories. The first category includes items which constitute the major portion of inventory value but have little diversity. However, the second category contains a great diversity of items which are less valuable than the items in the first category in general. Thus, using a method of inventory control for all of these items does not seem reasonable. In this paper by ABC classification, 77 items are categorised into three groups at first, in which group A includes 11 items, group B includes 16 items, and group C includes 50 items. Then, we considered criticality, scarcity and putrescence of items by combining ABC method and fuzzy classification to categorise aforementioned 77 items into 14 'very important', 20 'important', and 43 'unimportant' items. Considering that those criteria are not equally important in fuzzy classification of items, in this research fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) technique was used to determine the importance and weights of criteria. Since probable dearth of items can impose some problems to manufacturing companies, making a precise cluster of items considering qualitative criteria can help these companies in order to plan and design an effective inventory control systems.