Title: Prioritisation of flexibility enablers using AHP in steel making via electric arc furnace

Authors: Rohit Kumar Singh; Arun Goyal; Aditya Bhagwat; Vandana Sonwaney

Addresses: Symbiosis Institute of Operations Management, A-23 Shravan Sector Nashik, 422008, India ' Symbiosis Institute of Operations Management, A-23 Shravan Sector Nashik, 422008, India ' Symbiosis Institute of Operations Management, A-23 Shravan Sector Nashik, 422008, India ' Symbiosis Institute of Operations Management, A-23 Shravan Sector Nashik, 422008, India

Abstract: The main objective of this study is to determine various flexibility enablers in a steel making firm via electric arc furnace (EAF) route and prioritise them in order to sustain in the current scenario of competition, pricing, quality and efficiency. This study defines 20 different sub flexibility enablers in the process of producing steel via EAF route and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is used to prioritise these factors to determine well-coordinated manufacturing. It is evident that steel manufacturing firms work in a highly uncertain environment, volatility in steel prices would continue because of the oversupply and unpredictable demand, the capability to produce the required quality and quantity as per the existing demand is in the hand of the steel producer. Thus, there comes a need to define and prioritise various flexibility enablers for better and cost effective decision for steel production. In this study, 20 different sub factors are placed under seven main strategic enablers such as location, raw material, sourcing, labour, internal logistics, volume and product. It is observed that the global weightage of raw material flexibility is highest among the enablers and consecutively the sub factors are hot DRI and API grade in product flexibility.

Keywords: electric arc furnace; EAF; analytic hierarchy process; AHP; hot direct reduced iron; DRI; cold DRI; scrap; API grade.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPM.2017.085044

International Journal of Procurement Management, 2017 Vol.10 No.4, pp.524 - 538

Received: 15 Jan 2016
Accepted: 29 Jul 2016
Published online: 10 Jul 2017 *

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