A preliminary list of lean and sustainability based supplier selection criteria in the construction industry

Abstract

Construction companies’ supply chains, their efficiency and effectiveness, and leanness and sustainability performance can influence competitiveness, cost and time effectiveness and sustainability performance of the construction companies. This paper aims to provide a preliminary list of lean and sustainability based supplier selection criteria to be considered in the supplier selection phase to support establishment of lean and sustainable construction supply chain. With this aim, following the literature review covering 16 standards, indices and certificates, the Delphi Method and Best-Worst Method (BWM) were applied. The literature review revealed 649 criteria which have been refined to eliminate the overlapped criteria. In total 222 criteria were remained and grouped under 4 main categories. Based on these 4 main categories of criteria, four main groups of four round Delphi Surveys were performed. Delphi survey outputs provided input to the BWM to further assess and organize the criteria for supplier selection. In BWM, all main groups’ optimal weights and their related criteria optimal and global weights were calculated. The identified criteria list can be considered as an input to the decision-making about supplier selection so that lean and sustainable construction supply chain establishment can be supported. This research is expected to be useful for construction industry professionals and academics in the relevant field.