Evaluation of lean techniques suitable for the determination of major wastes in construction processes and their removal with SWARA and fuzzy VIKOR

The lean manufacturing approach is one of the process improvement and business development philosophies that can be applied in all sectors. In this context, lean construction enables the development of common applications by combining the production sector and the construction sector under the name of lean in order to improve and develop construction processes. This study was carried out in order to help the creation of a lean construction system by selecting the most appropriate lean techniques to determine and eliminate the waste in construction processes and to reduce costs by increasing the efficiency of the processes. Within the scope of the study, the wastes arising in the construction processes and the selection of lean production techniques that can eliminate these wastes were discussed as a multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) problem. In this problem wastes were determined as decision criteria and lean techniques were determined as solution alternatives by the opinions of 5 experts who have significant experience in the construction sector. In the solution phase of the problem, the criterion weights and importance order of wastes in the processes were found by using SWARA method, lean techniques determined as solution alternatives were evaluated by using Fuzzy VIKOR method and in conclusion two alternative lean techniques were obtained as compromise solutions.