Bottom-up green manufacturing strategy in the wire and cable industry: A Z-DEMATEL approach for identifying critical success criteria

Global warming and environmental degradation are prompting enterprises to consider environmentally conscious manufacturing as a strategic imperative. Consequently, the Wire and Cable Industry (W&CI) must urgently transition to Green Manufacturing (GM) to address these environmental challenges and achieve sustainable development. Numerous studies have focused on GM in large-scale enterprises, particularly within the context of Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM). However, most perspectives are top-down, with few studies examining GM strategies from a bottom-up approach, especially regarding the supply chain's crucial role in addressing manufacturers’ pressing needs. This study employs a modified Z-DEMATEL (Z number-based Decision Making and Trial Evaluation Laboratory) technique to evaluate and determine strategic dimensions and criteria. The Z-number enhances conventional fuzzy numbers, increasing the reliability of expert evaluations and reflecting the confidence of the evaluation environment under uncertainty. The findings indicate that “managerial support,” “corporate image,” “legal compliance,” “green design”, and “liability risk” are the top five important criteria for GM. On other hand, the modified Z-DEMATEL technique demonstrates that an Influential Network Relation Map (INRM) provides decision-makers with a quick understanding of the causality between criteria, offering insights into GM strategy. By evaluating different manufacturing practices in the wire and cable industry using a hybrid MCDM model, companies can identify improvement opportunities and make informed decisions about the most sustainable practices from a holistic perspective.