Title: Lean concept selection using modified fuzzy TOPSIS: a case study

Authors: S. Vinodh; Arjun Thiagarajan; Govind Mulanjur

Addresses: Department of Production Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli-620 015, Tamil Nadu, India ' Department of Production Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli-620 015, Tamil Nadu, India ' Department of Production Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli-620 015, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract: Lean manufacturing enables manufacturing organisations to achieve streamlined processes thereby facilitating waste elimination. The concept selection in the context of lean systems involves several criteria and it becomes a multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) problem. The case study was carried out in an Indian valves manufacturing organisation. Fuzzy TOPSIS has been used for selecting the best lean concept. Based on the values of the closeness index, it has been inferred that the concept A₃ (value stream mapping) is the optimal choice. Efforts have been taken to implement VSM in one of the assembly lines of the case organisation. Further the concepts 5S, TPM, Kanban and Kaizen are also being implemented in the organisation based on the ranking generated by fuzzy TOPSIS.

Keywords: lean manufacturing; multicriteria decision making; MCDM; concept selection; fuzzy TOPSIS; case study; India; valve manufacturing; value stream mapping; VSM; 5S; TPM; total productive maintenance; kanban; kaizen; continuous improvement.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSOM.2014.062235

International Journal of Services and Operations Management, 2014 Vol.18 No.3, pp.342 - 357

Published online: 17 Jun 2014 *

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