Application of hybrid ISM-DEMATEL approach for analyzing the barriers of automotive remanufacturing: a real-world case study

The more increasing developments of the automotive industry and usage of vehicles, the more increasing end-of-life vehicles recycling and remanufacturing strategies are needed all around the world. This work tries to explore the crucial barriers of implementation of remanufacturing strategy in the automotive industry, and also addresses substantial interrelationships and interdependencies among the barriers using multi-attribute decision making approaches. The influence and the interrelationship of the barriers of deploying the remanufacturing strategy in the Iranian automotive industry is measured by implementing the Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM) approach and then the results obtained from Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) are used to serve two purposes. First, to confirm and verify the results obtained by the ISM method, and secondly to improve upon those results. The obtained barriers included 4 separate categories of Strategic, Economic, Infrastructural, and Market barriers. Experts in the automobile industry were interviewed and their opinions were taken into account to analyze 17 barriers using two mentioned approaches. According to the evaluation process of the barriers for implementation of remanufacturing strategy in the automobile industry indicating that “lack of resources for research and development and information systems and data for product remanufacturing” is the most influential barrier. Government and the policymakers that plans to implement the remanufacturing must consider this factor intensively. The findings presented the insights for policies that needed to be taken into consideration to boost the remanufacturing strategy of the auto industry in Iran. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.