Buckling mode localization in rib-stiffened plates with randomly misplaced stiffeners is studied in this paper. The method of Kantorovich on reducing a partial differential equation to a system of ordinary differential equations is employed to obtain the deflection surface of the rib-stiffened plates under axial compressive load. The edges of the plates normal to the stiffeners can be either simply supported or clamped. The solutions of the deflection surface are then expressed in the form of transfer matrices. The expressions of the solutions obtained for the case of one edge simply supported and one edge clamped and the case of two edges clamped are similar to those for the case of two edges simply supported. When the two edges are simply supported, the method of Kantorovich yields the exact results. Localization factors, which characterize the average exponential rates of growth or decay of amplitudes of deflection, are determined using the method of transfer matrix. The method of Kantorovich is a general approximate method, which is applicable for various support conditions.