A Fuzzy Decision-Support System for the Selection of Lean Tools in Construction Projects

Lean construction has arisen as a prominent philosophy designed to minimize waste and maximize customer value through a variety of tools during the project lifecycle. The successful implementation of lean construction heavily depends on the selection of lean tools aligned with project objectives. Various lean tools, such as Value Stream Mapping, Visual Management, and Kanban, are designed to achieve specific lean objectives. Therefore, the selection of the most appropriate lean tools in accordance with the lean objectives established in construction projects represents a multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) problem. Although extensive literature exists on lean construction, research on the selection of lean tools in construction projects remains comparatively scarce. Moreover, related studies exhibit several limitations, including (1) focusing on a limited set of lean tools and criteria, (2) being confined to specific geographic contexts, (3) insufficiently addressing the uncertainty intrinsic to expert judgment, and (4) often utilizing subjective weighting methods, such as the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), instead of objective weighting methods based on data variance and intercriteria correlation. To address the identified research gaps, this study proposes a decision-support system that integrates Fuzzy CRITIC (CRiteria Importance Through Intercriteria Correlation) for the objective determination of the weights of criteria and Fuzzy CoCoSo (Combined Compromise Solution) for the ranking of lean tools. The results were validated through Fuzzy MAIRCA (Multiattribute Ideal-Actual Comparative Analysis) to determine the robustness and reliability of the proposed decision-support system. The results of this study indicated that "enhancement of visualization"and "enhancement of safety"have the highest weights, while Kaizen, Visual Management, and Kanban are the most appropriate lean tools for construction projects. The proposed decision-support system offers professionals a systematic, transparent, and flexible framework for the selection of the most appropriate lean tools, allowing informed decisions that improve the success of lean implementation in construction projects.