A multi criteria decision making approach to select subcontractors for aircraft subsystems

In this study, it is aimed to determine an alternative method and solution to the problem of subcontractor selection for subsystems of the prime contractors in the aerospace industry. To begin with, aerospace industry's value chain is explained, the actors of the aerospace supply chain are listed and defined, and the advantages of subcontracting activities are mentioned. Next, with a comprehensive literature research, the criteria used in supplier selection were listed and this list was compared with the criteria in the public procurement law of Türkiye. The criteria listed in the subcontractor selection problem were redefined and specified by reflecting the industry professionals and industry requirements. Furthermore, in order to determine the weights of the specified criteria, a survey was conducted with the participation of 8 supply chain managers and 29 subcontract administrators, as per the output of survey, criteria weights were determined using the AHP method. Then, the submitted proposals from potential subcontractors were evaluated with the determined criteria and ranked using the TOPSIS method. Finally, the survey results of supply chain managers and subcontract administrator were analyzed separately, and further analysis was applied by reordering the companies.