Assessment of Conditions for Implementing Information Technology in a Warehouse System: A Novel Fuzzy PIPRECIA Method

Abstract

The application of information technology in all areas represents a significant facilitation of all business processes and activities. A competitive business system is hardly imaginable without adequate information technology. Therefore, this paper evaluates the conditions for the implementation of barcode technology in a warehouse system of a company for the manufacture of brown paper. SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) matrix was formed with a total of 27 elements based on which the benefits of the implementation of barcode technology in the warehouse system need to be analysed. For this purpose, a new fuzzy PIPRECIA (PIvot Pairwise RElative Criteria Importance Assessment) method has been developed to evaluate all elements in SWOT matrix. In addition, a part of the new developed approach includes new fuzzy scales for criterion assessment that are adapted to the methodology required by the fuzzy PIPRECIA method. To determine the consistency of the method, Spearman and Pearson correlation coefficients are applied. The results obtained in this study show that weaknesses are most noticeable in the current system. By implementing barcode technology, it is possible to create opportunities defined in SWOT matrix, which, in a very efficient way, allow elimination of the current weaknesses of the system.