Comparative analysis of ranking the lean supply chain enablers: An AHP, BWM and fuzzy SWARA based approach

Purpose In the recent scenario, there has been an increasing trend toward lean practices and implementation in production systems for the improvement of an organization's performance as its basic nature is to eliminate the wastes. The increasing interest of customers in customized products and the fulfillment of customers' demand with good productivity and efficiency within time are the challenges for the manufacturing organization; that is why adopting lean manufacturing concept is very crucial in the current scenario. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, the authors considered three different methodologies for fulfilling the objective of our research. The analytical hierarchy process, best-worst method and fuzzy step-wise weight assessment ratio analysis are the three methods employed for weighting all the enablers and finding the priority among them and their final rankings. Findings Further, the best results among these methodologies could be used to analyze their interrelationships for successful lean supply chain management implementation in an organization. In this paper, 35 key enablers were identified after the rigorous analysis of literature review and the opinion of a group of experts consisting of academicians, practitioners and consultants. Thereafter, the brainstorming sessions were conducted to finalize 28 lean supply chain enablers (LSCEs). Practical implications For lean manufacturing practitioners, the result of this study can be beneficial where the manufacturer is required to increase efficiency and reduce cost and wastage of resources in the lean manufacturing process. Originality/value This paper is the first of the research papers that considered deep literature review of identified LSCEs as the initial step, followed by finding the best priority weightage and developing the ranking of various lean enablers of supply chain with the help of various methodologies.