Distribution network design is an important issue in supply chain management and plays an important role in making new market development. Because of JIT philosophy, most of managers now have focused on designing appropriate distribution networks. Thus, categorizing distributors and selecting the best ones are crucial for companies. This paper provides a new method to categorize and select distributors. The fuzzy Adaptive Resonance Theory (ART) algorithm is utilized to categorize distributors according to their similarity. To improve the performance of the algorithm, we train the algorithm using the past data. Finally, a numerical example is illustrated to examine the validity of the proposed algorithm.

Ghorbani, M., Tavakkoli-Moghaddam, R., Razmi, J & Arabzad, S. (2012). Applying the fuzzy ART algorithm to distribution network design.Management Science Letters, 2(1), 79-86.

Aydın Keskin, G., Ilhan, S. & Ozkan, C. (2010). The Fuzzy ART algorithm: A categorization method for supplier evaluation and selection, Expert Systems with Applications, 37, 1235–1240.

Aydın Keskin, & Ozkan, C. (2009). A new evaluation method for FMEA: Fuzzy ART algorithm. Quality and Reliability Engineering International, 25, 647-661.

Bhattacharya, A., Geraghty, J. & Young, P. (2010). Supplier selection paradigm: An integrated hierarchical QFD methodology under multiple-criteria environment. Applied Soft Computing, 10(4), 1013–1027.

Fassnacht, M. & Koese, I. (2006). Quality of electronic services: conceptualizing and testing a hierarchical model. Journal of Service Research, 9 (1), 19–37.

Hugos, M. (2006). Essentials of supply chain management, second edition. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Kuo, M.S., & Liang, G.S. (2011).Combining VIKOR with GRA techniques to evaluate service quality of air ports under fuzzy environment. Expert Systems with Applications, 38, 1304–1312.

Lin, J.S.C. & Chen, C.R. (2008). Determinants of manufacturers’ selection ofdistributors. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, 13(5), 356-365.

Lopes, M.L.M., Minussi, C.R. & Lotufo, A.D.P. (2005). Electric load forecasting using a Fuzzy ART & ARTMAP neural network. Applied Soft Computing, 5, 235–244.

Mousavi, S.M., Jolai, F. & Tavakkoli-Moghaddam, R. (2011a). A new fuzzy stochastic multi-attribute group decision-making approach for selection problems. Group Decision and Negotiation, to appear in 2011, DOI: 10.1007/s10726-011-9259-1.

Mousavi, S.M., Tavakkoli-Moghaddam, R., Heydar, M. & Ebrahimnejad, S. (2011b). Multi-criteria decision-making for plant location selection: an integrated Delphi-AHP-PROMETHEE methodology. Arabian Journal for Science and Engineering (AJSE: B–Engineering), accepted for publication, to appear in 2011.

Narasimhan, R., Talluri, S. & Mahapatra, S.K. (2006). Multiproduct, multicriteria model for supplier selection with product life-cycle considerations. Decision Sciences, 37(4), 577–603.

Pacella, M., Semeraro, Q. & Anglani, A. (2004). Manufacturing quality control by means of a Fuzzy ART network trained on natural process data. Artificial Intelligence, 17, (83–96).

Pacella, M. & Semeraro, Q. (2011). Monitoring roundness profiles based on an unsupervised neural network algorithm. Computers & Industrial Engineering, 60(4), 677-689.

Pandian, R.S. & Mahapatra, S.S. (2009).Manufacturing cell formation with production data using neural networks.Computers & Industrial Engineering, 56, 1340–1347.

Punniyamoorthy, M., Mathiyalagan, P. & Parthiban, P. (2011). A strategic model using structural equation modeling and fuzzy logic in supplier selection. Expert Systems with Applications, 38(1), 458–474.

Razmi, J., Songhori, M.J. & Khakbaz, M.H. (2009). An integrated fuzzy group decision making/fuzzy linear programming (FGDMLP) framework for supplier evaluation and order allocation. International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, 43(6-7), 590–607.

Sharma, D., Sahay, B.S. & Sachan, A. (2004). Modeling distributor performance index using system dynamics approach. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, 16, 37–67.

Talluri, S., & Narasimhan, R. (2005).A note on a methodology for supply base optimization. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 52(1), 130–139.

Vanteddu, G., Chinnam, R.B., & Gushikin, O. (2010). Supply chain focus dependent supplier selection problem. International Journal of Production Economics, 129(1), 204-216.

Wang, J.W., Cheng, C.H. & Huang, K.C. (2009). Fuzzy hierarchical TOPSIS for supplier selection. Applied Soft Computing, 9(1), 377–386.

Wang, L.,& Kess, P. (2006).Partnering motives and partner selection, case study of finish distributor relationships in china. International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management, 36 (6), 466-478.

Zou, Z., Tseng, T.L., Sohn, H., Song, G. & Gutierrez, R. (2011). A rough set based approach to distributor selection in supply chain management. Expert Systems with Applications, 38, 106-115.