The major challenge for automotive manufacturers is to customize collaboration with vast supplier networks under
uncertain conditions, such as unsatisfied quality, delivery shortage, and expensive costs during New Product
Development (NPD). To address this concern, identifying appropriate criteria is a primary step for defining the best
supplier performance for new model car development. Previous research has contributed to several criteria for
performance evaluation with rating methods, but most focused on the mass production stage. However, few studies
had done during the trial production stage. To bridge this gap, this study provides important criteria for Evaluating
Supplier Performance (ESP) during the trial production stage by applying the Multi-Criteria Decision Making
(MCDM) approach through the case study of a famous automaker in Thailand. The eighteen criteria were developed
from an intensive literature review and thirteen experts survey. Then Consistent Fuzzy Preference Relationship
(CFPR) approach is adopted to derive the relative importance weight of criteria through four perspectives; Quality
Performance, Delivery Capability, Cost Compatibility, and Management Support. The objectives of this study provide
appropriate criteria and prioritize the important criteria for ESP during the trial production stage, which helps to
improve automaker-supplier collaboration in the automotive supply chain.

Keywords
New Product Development (NPD), Trial Production Stage, Evaluating Suppliers’ Performance (ESP), Multi-Criteria, Decision Making (MCDM), Consistent Fuzzy Preference Relationship (CFPR)