Project name: Warehouse Automation Vendor Selection
Date: 9/22/2026 7:54:25 PM

TOPSIS as one of MCDM methods considers both the distance of each alternative from the positive ideal and the distance of each alternative from the negative ideal point. In other words, the best alternative should have the shortest distance from the positive ideal solution (PIS) and the longest distance from the negative ideal.

In this study there are 4 criteria and 5 alternatives that are ranked based on TOPSIS method. The following table describes the criteria

Characteristics of Criteria

name type weight
1Throughput capacityPositive0.3
2Integration flexibilityPositive0.25
3Annual operating costNegative0.25
4Implementation lead timePositive0.2

The following table shows the decision matrix.

Decision Matrix

Throughput capacityIntegration flexibilityAnnual operating costImplementation lead time
Dematic AGV System5432
Swisslog AutoStore4523
Geek+ RoboShuttle3414
Honeywell Intelligrated4325
Vanderlande ADAPTO5423

The Steps of the TOPSIS Method :

STEP 1: Normalize the decision-matrix.

The following formula can be used to normalize.

The following table shows the normalized matrix.

The normalized matrix

Throughput capacityIntegration flexibilityAnnual operating costImplementation lead time
Dematic AGV System0.5240.4420.640.252
Swisslog AutoStore0.4190.5520.4260.378
Geek+ RoboShuttle0.3140.4420.2130.504
Honeywell Intelligrated0.4190.3310.4260.63
Vanderlande ADAPTO0.5240.4420.4260.378

STEP 2: Calculate the weighted normalized decision matrix.

According to the following formula, the normalized matrix is multiplied by the weight of the criteria.

The following table shows the weighted normalized decision matrix.

The weighted normalized matrix

Throughput capacityIntegration flexibilityAnnual operating costImplementation lead time
Dematic AGV System0.1570.110.160.05
Swisslog AutoStore0.1260.1380.1070.076
Geek+ RoboShuttle0.0940.110.0530.101
Honeywell Intelligrated0.1260.0830.1070.126
Vanderlande ADAPTO0.1570.110.1070.076

STEP 3: Determine the positive ideal and negative ideal solutions.

The aim of the TOPSIS method is to calculate the degree of distance of each alternative from positive and negative ideals. Therefore, in this step, the positive and negative ideal solutions are determined according to the following formulas.

So that

where j1 and j2 denote the negative and positive criteria, respectively.

The following table shows both positive and negative ideal values.

The positive and negative ideal values

Positive ideal Negative ideal
Throughput capacity0.1570.094
Integration flexibility0.1380.083
Annual operating cost0.0530.16
Implementation lead time0.1260.05

STEP4: distance from the positive and negative ideal solutions

TOPSIS method ranks each alternative based on the relative closeness degree to the positive ideal and distance from the negative ideal. Therefore, in this step, the calculation of the distances between each alternative and the positive and negative ideal solutions is obtained by using the following formulas.

The following table shows the distance to the positive and negative ideal solutions.

Distance to positive and negative ideal points

Distance to positive ideal Distance to positive negative
Dematic AGV System0.1340.069
Swisslog AutoStore0.080.087
Geek+ RoboShuttle0.0730.121
Honeywell Intelligrated0.0830.098
Vanderlande ADAPTO0.0780.091

STEP 5: Calculate the relative closeness degree of alternatives to the ideal solution

In this step, the relative closeness degree of each alternative to the ideal solution is obtained by the following formula. If the relative closeness degree has value near to 1, it means that the alternative has shorter distance from the positive ideal solution and longer distance from the negative ideal solution.

The following table shows the relative closeness degree of each alternative to the ideal solution and its ranking.

The ci value and ranking

Ci rank
Dematic AGV System0.345
Swisslog AutoStore0.5214
Geek+ RoboShuttle0.6231
Honeywell Intelligrated0.5412
Vanderlande ADAPTO0.5363

The following figure shows the ci values.

The ci value