A combined AHP- and DEA-based approach to measure agility of manufacturing systems Online publication date: Fri, 14-Nov-2014
by P.G. Saleeshya; A. Subash Babu
International Journal of Business and Systems Research (IJBSR), Vol. 6, No. 4, 2012
Abstract: This paper is related to a real life study carried out in Indian manufacturing organisations to assess the extent to which the agile manufacturing paradigm is recognised and deployed, as this paradigm has been a major objective of many companies. A multi-level framework developed by the authors, along with a questionnaire was used to identify various enabling factors of agility in Indian manufacturing industries. This model helps to determine the measure of agility called 'Effectiveness Index' (EI) at the various hierarchical levels of an organisation. In this paper we propose an approach to measure the agility of manufacturing systems by combining the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and the data envelopment analysis (DEA) methodologies. The method of AHP was used to identify important agility enablers by deriving appropriate weights (Importance Index). DEA was used to compare and find out the priorities of various units of organisations by making use of the values of EI and Importance Index for agility.
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Business and Systems Research (IJBSR):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:
Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.
If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com
Our Blog 
Follow us on Twitter 
Visit us on Facebook