Ranking of drivers for integrated lean-green manufacturing for Indian manufacturing SMEs

Abstract

The growth of manufacturing small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) is vital as they have a significant amount of share in total manufacturing output. In this era of globalization, SMEs are compelled to ensure sustainable profitability through cost savings, while being environmentally conscious at the same time. It has been reported in the prior investigations that lean and green practices can achieve excellent results if they are implemented simultaneously. Hence, SMEs need to adopt integrated lean and green manufacturing as this can address economic and environmental concerns together. The drivers for implementation of integrated lean and green manufacturing in SMEs have not been thoroughly explored in the past studies. This sets the motivation for the present research. Thus, in this paper drivers for integrated lean and green manufacturing are identified from the combined support of existing literature and experts' opinions in the relevant field. The drivers are ranked using multi-criteria decision making methods such as technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) and simple additive weighting (SAW) in fuzzy environment using environmental, social and economic perspectives, however, consolidated ranking is obtained by borda method. The results reveal that top management commitment, technology up-gradation, current legislation, green brand image and future legislation are five most important drivers for the implementation of integrated lean and green manufacturing in Indian manufacturing SMEs. The research counters the uncertainties in importance of criteria weights using sensitivity analysis which determines the influence of criteria weights on the prioritization. Finally, the paper concludes with some managerial implications which will help the policy makers in government and industry to focus on few important drivers to facilitate the integrated lean and green manufacturing implementation in SMEs with limited resources.