A sustainable solution for lean barriers through a fuzzy DEMATEL methodology with a case study from the Indian manufacturing industry

Abstract

Purpose As the COVID-19 epidemic ravages the world in the fourth industrial revolution era, the manufacturing sector faces its worst situation in a century. Lean philosophy, renowned as a “warrior philosophy,” can be an able rescuer to these industries. This study aims to identify the hurdles to lean strategy implementation and conduct an analysis to provide cognizance to policymakers, practitioners and decision-makers. Design/methodology/approach This study aims to identify the obstacles that obstruct lean implementation into seven primary barriers/components, with the fuzzy DEMATEL approach being used to evaluate the critical factors as well as the cause and effect factors among them. Expert opinions are sought to obtain the relevant data for evaluation purposes. Findings The results reveal that a firm should focus on firm cultural conflict scenario, resources–responses incapability, improve on suppliers’ attitude and execute a proper planning and logistics equation to alleviate the hindrances of implementing lean. As these causal factors influence the effect factors, namely, top management vision, management–employee relationship and human resource building, focusing on them automatically improves the effect factors; thus, the surge to overcome resistance to lean implementation is alleviated. Practical implications This research aids in identifying and analyzing lean implementation issues in the manufacturing and industrial sectors. The observations, results and insights drawn can act as a guiding force to rupture the resistance envelope covering the domain of lean implementation and possibly reinstating industries to survive and excel in the business post-COVID era. Originality/value This research introduces barriers to lean implementation in a unique way, as it articulates all sections of an industry and group the barriers based on the classification. It further prioritizes the barriers for their importance in the Indian industrial scenario. This would help the industry professionals and managers access the barriers and generate insight on how and where to start implementing lean.

Linear Programming-Based Fuzzy Alternative Ranking Order Method Accounting for Two-Step Normalization for Comprehensive Evaluation of Digital Economy Development in Provincial Regions

“…In maritime transportation, Kuzu [45] applies the fuzzy DEMATEL approach to conduct a risk analysis of anchor loss, demonstrating its utility in assessing complex factors and enhancing decision-making in the maritime industry. Furthermore, Mohapatra et al [46] present a sustainable solution for addressing lean barriers in the Indian manufacturing industry, employing a fuzzy DEMATEL methodology. Opreana et al [47] propose a fuzzy analytic network process (ANP) integrated with principal component analysis to establish a comprehensive bank performance model, particularly considering country risk as a significant factor.…”

Guest editorial: Applications of operational excellence practices in Indian contexts

“…To mitigate these difficulties, lean philosophy emerges as a powerful ally. The fifth article (Mohapatra et al , 2023), is a study entitled “A sustainable solution for lean barriers through a fuzzy DEMATEL methodology with a case study from the Indian manufacturing industry”, which aims to identify and analyze the obstacles hindering the implementation of lean strategies in the manufacturing industry, providing valuable insights for policymakers, practitioners and decision-makers. Using the fuzzy DEMATEL approach, the study categorizes the barriers to lean implementation into seven primary components and evaluates the critical factors and their cause-and-effect relationships.…”

A multi-stage group decision making approach for sustainable supplier selection based on probabilistic linguistic time-ordered incentive operator

“…In recent years, research on the MAGDM problem of sustainable supplier selection has also yielded fruitful results. The most widely used methods to solve the problem of sustainable supplier selection include Analysis Network Procedures (ANP) method [33,34], Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) [35][36][37], Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) [38][39][40], Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) [41][42][43], VlseKriterijuska Optimizacija I Komoromisno Resenje (VIKOR) method [44][45][46], the best-worst method (BWM) [47][48][49], PROMETHEE [50,51] and multi-objective optimization methodology [52,53]. Most of the above studies only consider the decision information of a single period for sustainable supplier selection.…”