The Mixed Method for Sustainability Assessment of Remanufacturing Process Using Grey Decision Making

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Sustainability in Remanufacturing Operations

Part of the book series: EcoProduction ((ECOPROD))

Abstract

Sustainability assessment is not an easy task especially in case of small and medium size remanufacturing companies. The remanufacturing process is characterized by high level of uncertainty regarding its timing, quality and quantity of its outputs. Our previous literature studies have showed that there is lack of a simple method for assessment of sustainability dedicated to SMEs in remanufacturing sector. The challenge is to combine the expert’s knowledge and the numerical data. The aim of this chapter is to present a mixed method for assessing the sustainability with the use of Grey Decision Making. The application of the Grey Decision Making (GDM) allows carrying out of the assessment process in a quantifiable way, even with uncertain and incomplete data. The proposed method aims to assess the class of the sustainability, to identify the weaknesses in current operations and then to facilitate making priorities for the improvements action which should to be taken in order to achieve a better sustainability class. The chapter presents also IT tools which was designed to facilitate the assessment process.

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Acknowledgements

This chapter refers to the research financed by the Narodowe Centrum Badan i Rozwoju NCBiR (National Centre for Research and Development) in the framework of the German-Polish cooperation for sustainable development, project “Sustainability in remanufacturing operations (SIRO)”, grant no WPN/2/2012.

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Correspondence to Paulina Golinska-Dawson .

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Golinska-Dawson, P., Kosacka, M., Mierzwiak, R., Werner-Lewandowska, K. (2018). The Mixed Method for Sustainability Assessment of Remanufacturing Process Using Grey Decision Making. In: Golinska-Dawson, P., Kübler, F. (eds) Sustainability in Remanufacturing Operations. EcoProduction. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60355-1_9

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