Evaluation and ranking of solutions to mitigate sustainable remanufacturing supply chain risks: a hybrid fuzzy SWARA-fuzzy COPRAS framework approach

ABSTRACT

The objective of this research is to identify and rank the solutions to mitigate the sustainable remanufacturing supply chain (RSC) risks effectively. Risks and the solutions are identified based on a literature survey and discussion with the expert’s panel. A hybrid multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) framework using fuzzy step-wise weight assessment ratio analysis (SWARA) and fuzzy complex proportional assessment of alternatives (COPRAS) is applied to analyse the risks and the solutions. Fuzzy SWARA is used to obtain relative weights of each risk and fuzzy COPRAS is used to rank and select the most efficient solution to manage the risks. The proposed framework was numerically applied to a case organisation involved in manufacturing/remanufacturing activities. The results indicate that initiatives from the management and modification in organisation goals is the top-ranked solution that would mitigate the majority of risks. Government, manufacturer and distributor collaboration to develop action plans and setting up international standards are also prominent solutions to overcome the risks. Further, this research performs a sensitivity analysis to check the robustness of the proposed fuzzy SWARA-fuzzy COPRAS framework. The findings and implications of this research will help the practitioners and researchers for decision-making in RSC.

KEYWORDS:

• Sustainable
• remanufacturing supply chain
• risk
• fuzzy SWARA
• fuzzy COPRAS

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Zulfiquar N. Ansari

Zulfiquar N. Ansari is pursuing his Ph.D. in the area of supply chain remanufacturing from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat, India. His areas of interest are supply chain management, remanufacturing supply chain, sustainable supply chain management and operations management.

Ravi Kant

Dr. Ravi Kant is Associate Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat, India. His areas of research interest include Knowledge Management, Operations & Supply Chain, Lean & Six Sigma. He has about 14 years of experience in industry, teaching and research. He has co-authored more than 200 research papers in international journals and conferences and three books.

Ravi Shankar

Dr. Ravi Shankar is  Professor  at Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, India. He is also the Honorary Visiting Professor of Decision Science at School of Economics and Management, Loughborough University, UK. His areas of interest include Decision Sciences, Business Analytics and Big Data, Operations and Supply Chain Management, Sustainable Freight Transportation, Project Management, Total Quality Management and Six Sigma, Strategic Technology Management, etc. He has co-authored more than 400 research papers and six books.