A hybrid ELECTRE based prioritization of conjoint tools for lean and sustainable manufacturing

Lean manufacturing applies systematic strategies and tools to eliminate wastes and non-value-added activities in all the functions during manufacturing practice. Similarly, minimizing the consumption of material, energy and other natural resources while preserving the environment are the primary focus of sustainable philosophy. The synergy of these two strategies is the need of the hour in order to survive as a manufacturer as well as to achieve sustainability for the industry. The objective of this paper is to present a method of assessment and prioritization of conjoint tools to effectively implement lean and sustainable manufacturing simultaneously using a hybrid of two decision making tools. A multi-criteria decision making tool based on outranking approach, ELECTRE-II (ELimination and Choice Expressing/Translating REality) is implemented for the selection of lean tools in the order of their rankings for achieving sustainability in manufacturing. A case study of a manufacturing industry is presented to illustrate the approach.