A Fuzzy-AHP-QFD approach for achieving lean attributes for competitive advantages development, Case study: The Staam Sanat Company

As one of the new producing approaches, lean production has brought in new opportunities for producers all around the world. Many producers have adopted the technique for surviving the growing world market. By combining competitive advantages, lean attributes, and lean enablers as three factors, the present study attempts to determine the most suitable enablers for improvement of lean attributes in a case study. Quality Function Deployment (QFD) in fuzzy environment and House of Quality (HOQ) matrix, successfully employed for development of new products, are adopted as approach of the study. Weights of competitive advantages, lean attributes and enablers are calculated through fuzzy analysis hierarchy process (FAHP), while fuzzy logarithmic least square method (LLSM) is used in calculation of the weights. Throughout the methodology, fuzzy logic is the basis for translating linguistic judgments required for the relationships and correlation matrix to numerical values. Moreover, final ranking of lean enablers is represented through area ranking method and taking into account various techniques of decision makers’ risk. Finally, a case study in automotive industry is introduced to demonstrate the implementation of the proposed methodology.