Frank prioritized Bonferroni mean operator with single-valued neutrosophic sets and its application in selecting third-party logistics providers

The selection of third-party logistics (TPL) providers can greatly influence the development of a company, and it has therefore become a hot topic for research. The process of selecting TPL providers is complicated because it includes fuzzy information that can be depicted by single-valued neutrosophic numbers (SVNNs). This paper establishes a new method for selecting TPL providers under single-valued neutrosophic environments. This method simultaneously takes into account the interrelationships among criteria and the different priority levels of criteria. To construct the method, we first introduce Frank operations of SVNNs, considering that extant operations for SVNNs lack flexibility and robustness. Then, we develop the single-valued neutrosophic Frank normalized prioritized Bonferroni mean (SVNFNPBM) operator utilizing the proposed Frank operations. The SVNFNPBM operator considers the interrelationships among criteria and their distinct priority levels by combining the Bonferroni mean and the prioritized average operators. Subsequently, we construct a method for selecting TPL providers based on the proposed operator. Finally, we describe a numerical example of selecting a TPL provider and conduct a comparative analysis to verify the applicability and feasibility of the proposed method.