Title: Grey theory-based leanness assessment and decision support system development: a case study

Authors: D. Senthil Kumar; S. Vinodh; T. Yuvaraja

Addresses: Department of Production Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli-620015, Tamil Nadu, India ' Department of Production Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli-620015, Tamil Nadu, India ' Department of Production Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli-620015, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract: Evaluation of leanness level of an organisation becomes important as it identifies ill performing criteria and enables organisation to explore process from lean perspective and to focus more on weaker areas to improve operational performance. This work presents a study on leanness assessment of a manufacturing organisation using grey numbers approach. Assessment model comprises five enablers, 30 attributes and 90 criteria. Inputs are obtained from experts and are aggregated at three levels (enabler level, attribute level and criterion level). Overall grey performance index (OGPI) is computed as (2.192, 15.788), which indicates that the organisation is lean. Weaker areas are recognised based on grey performance importance index (GPII) and grey possibility degree (GPD) values. Results are validated using a decision support system. The practical implications are highlighted.

Keywords: lean manufacturing; leanness assessment; grey numbers; grey systems; decision support system.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSOM.2025.149216

International Journal of Services and Operations Management, 2025 Vol.52 No.2, pp.187 - 225

Received: 20 Jul 2023
Accepted: 23 Jul 2023
Published online: 20 Oct 2025 *

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