Ranking Agility Factors to Reliably Sustain a Green Industrial Supply Chain Using the Fuzzy Analytic Network Process and Ordinal Priority Approach

Abstract

Suppliers can achieve high levels of supply chain sustainability by improving the related factors. An agile supply chain can support sustainability. Identifying and ranking agility factors in the SAIPA company in Iran to reach a sustainable and green supply chain is the primary purpose of this study. SAIPA is an automotive company with an extensive supply chain. The data were quantitative, and the collection was completed by reviewing the literature and questioning experts. The FANP and the OPA methods were the tools used to analyze the data. These methods are proper for facing multiple-criteria decision-making problems, as in the case of this paper. We first identified the factors (capabilities, enablers, and attributes) using a literature review. After that, we gathered the data for ranking analysis by collecting the opinions of SAIPA’s organizational experts using a pairwise comparison questionnaire for the FANP and a prioritizing list for the OPA. Both methods showed that “Quickness” is the capability with the highest priority. “Customer Sensitivity” was the most critical enabler, and “Accurate customer-based measures” was the most significant attribute of the FANP analysis. The OPA results showed that “Information Management” was the first enabler, and “Efficient funds transfer” took first place among all the attributes. Managers should pay more attention to these factors to develop agile supply chains in the SAIPA company. The results also showed that the methods proposed for multi-attribute decision-making problems like the FANP have shortcomings, such as difficulties completing the pairwise comparison matrix due to burdensome data collection in cases similar to the one in this study with many factors.