Transformations  in
Business & Economics

FORMULATION OF MANUFACTURING STRATEGIES BASED ON AN EXTENDED SWARA METHOD WITH INTUITIONISTIC FUZZY NUMBERS: AN AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY APPLICATION
Hannan Amoozad Mahdiraji, Edmundas Kazimieras Zavadskas, Alireza Arab, Zenonas Turskis, Iman Ghasemian Sahebi

ABSTRACT. Applying any kind of manufacturing strategy requires evaluating the current situation of the system at the internal and external levels and providing strategies for improving the system performance. Hence, the study presents review and design the optimal manufacturing strategy for increasing the efficiency of the automotive industry. This article presents a three-step manufacturing strategy model using Miltenburg worksheet and extended the Stepwise Weight Assessment Ratio Analysis (SWARA) method into the intuitionistic fuzzy environment.
It concentrates on five manufacturing objectives encompassing the production system, manufacturing outputs, manufacturing leverage, production capabilities, and competitive analysis. First,the basis of current production system is Product\Volume Layout\Flow Matrix (PV-LF) matrix. At the point, six manufacturing levers are analysed and assessed. The following step extends the SWARA method into the intuitionistic fuzzy environment. The research evaluates manufacturing outputs (delivery and cost, quality and performance) to define criteria of the optimal production system. Eventually, the study describes optimal strategies. Thus, the production system could change to the optimal policy. The results demonstrated that the case study production system is Equipment Paced Line Flow (EPL) and should vary from EPL to Just in Time (JIT). Furthermore, changing manufacturing levers is necessary to execute the proposed framework successfully.

KEYWORDS:  manufacturing strategy, Miltenberger worksheet, intuitionistic fuzzy numbers, SWARA method.

JEL classification:  M10, M11, M19, M21, C02, C15, C35, C61.