Determination of required factors in lean supply chain implementation with cognitive mapping method and prioritization of risks with ANP: An application in aviation organizations

In the aviation supply chain, the actors that interact most with all other stakeholders and whose services impact the end customer the most are ground handling companies. Therefore, the answer to how aviation ground handling companies can respond to time pressure without compromising safety could be simplicity. This study aims to provide a general overview of Lean supply chain management and to identify and analyze the necessary factors for integrating Lean principles into the supply chains of ground handling companies in the aviation industry. Another aim is to identify and classify the risks associated with its applicability. Consequently, in the first stage, interviews were conducted with employees in the ground handling sector to evaluate the cause-and-effect relationship among the 20 success factors identified in the literature, and the factors that participants collectively considered most important were the implementation process and organizational infrastructure. Additionally, the cognitive mapping of the factors they identified was analyzed using the Decision Explorer program. According to this analysis, five common factors emerged: qualified personnel, cost, redesigning systems/processes, automation, and training. Finally, to identify and prioritize the risks, the ANP method based on BOCR was used with the Super Decision program. The literature review resulted in 7 criteria for Benefits, 8 for Opportunities, 4 for Costs, and 9 for Risks. According to pairwise comparisons, the most important criterion among the main criteria was the risk factor with a score of 0.677. The least important criterion was the opportunity main criterion with a score of 0.046. For the benefit main criterion, the most important sub-criterion was cost reduction; for opportunities, it was customer satisfaction; for costs, it was the cost of access to resources; and for risks, it was the profit margin.