Title: Application of fuzzy QFD for improving the process sustainability characteristics: a case study

Authors: K.E.K. Vimal; S. Vinodh; K. Jayakrishna

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering, Chennai – 602 117, Tamil Nadu, India ' Department of Production Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli-620 015, Tamil Nadu, India ' School of Mechanical Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract: The objective of this study is to develop a methodology for enabling sustainability in manufacturing process. Few improvement proposals were identified for improving sustainability characteristics of manufacturing processes. Fuzzy quality function deployment (FQFD) methodology has been used to prioritise the improvement proposals considering the requirements of sustainable process. The study involves two mappings: first between sustainable process requirements and sustainable manufacturing criteria, second between process sustainability criteria and improvements. The practical validity of the study has been ensured with the conduct of case study. DfX, energy modelling and process simulation, effluent management system, hotspot analysis and eco-VSM were the prioritised improvement proposals considering the requirements. The consideration of sustainability requirements and attempt to map with the sustainability practices was not attempted earlier. The current study can be extended to any type of manufacturing process, which shows the comprehensiveness of the proposed method.

Keywords: sustainability; quality function deployment; fuzzy methods; process sustainability.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSOM.2019.097528

International Journal of Services and Operations Management, 2019 Vol.32 No.2, pp.173 - 201

Received: 27 Oct 2016
Accepted: 29 Jan 2017
Published online: 28 Jan 2019 *

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