# Digital twin and fuzzy framework for supply chain sustainability risk assessment and management in supplier selection

**Authors:** Ibrahim M. Hezam, Ahmed M. Ali, Karam Sallam, Ibrahim A. Hameed, Mohamed Abdel-Basset

PMC · DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-67226-z · Scientific Reports · 2024-07-31

## TL;DR

This study introduces a new model using fuzzy logic and digital twin concepts to assess and manage supply chain risks when selecting suppliers in Egypt's gas industry.

## Contribution

A novel spherical fuzzy-based MCDM model is proposed for supplier selection under sustainability risk uncertainty.

## Key findings

- Supply risks were identified as the most important factor in supplier selection.
- The proposed model demonstrated stability through sensitivity analysis and comparison with other MCDM methods.
- Ethical risks were found to have the lowest importance in the evaluation criteria.

## Abstract

Risks in the supply chain can damage many companies and organizations due to sustainability risk factors. This study evaluates the supply chain risk assessment and management and then selects the best supplier in a gas company in Egypt. A comprehensive methodology can use the experts' opinions who use the linguistic variables in the spherical fuzzy numbers (SFNs) to evaluate the criteria and suppliers in this study based on their views. Selecting the best supplier is a complex task due to various criteria related to supply chain risk assessment, such as supply risks, environmental risks, financial risks, regularity risks, political risk, ethical risks, and technology risks and their sub-criteria. This study suggested a new combined model with multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) under a spherical fuzzy set (SFS) environment to overcome uncertainty and incomplete data in the assessment process. The MCDM methodology has two methods: the Entropy and COmbinative Distance-based Assessment (CODAS) methods. The SFS-Entropy is used to compute supply chain risk assessment and management criteria weights. The SFS-CODAS method is used to rank the supplier. The main results show that supply risks have the highest importance, followed by financial and environmental risks, and ethical risks have the lowest risk importance. The criteria weights were changed under sensitivity analysis to show the stability and validation of the results obtained from the suggested methodology. The comparative analysis is implemented with other MCDM methods named TOPSIS, VIKOR, MARCOS, COPRAS, WASPAS, and MULTIMOORA methods under the SFS environment. This study can help managers and organizations select the best supplier with the lowest sustainability risks.

## Full-text entities

- **Diseases:** COmbinative Distance (MESH:D053632), natural disasters (MESH:D012893), SC (MESH:D006450), SFNs (MESH:D007674), MCDM (MESH:D020195), water pollution (MESH:D000069578), air pollution (MESH:D004618)
- **Chemicals:** SC (MESH:D012538)
- **Species:** Homo sapiens (human, species) [taxon 9606]

## Full text

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## Figures

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## References

12 references — full list in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC11291748/full.md

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC11291748