Decision support for multi-criteria evaluation of manufacturing reshoring decisions

Sammanfattning: Reshoring decisions in the manufacturing sector have received increasing attention due to their potential to improve overall quality, flexibility, or reduce risk. Contemporary events such as the pandemic and the supply crisis have made manufacturing reshoring decisions a timely and important topic to study. Particularly, the decision support deserves attention as there is limited knowledge on tools for reshoring decisions. The purpose of this study is to investigate the feasibility of decision support for reshoring decisions. The purpose is addressed through three research questions (RQ). The first question (RQ1) is “What criteria should be considered in evaluating a manufacturing reshoring decision?” and should guide companies in identifying factors in a reshoring decision. The second one (RQ2) is “How do decision-makers reason with respect to criteria in manufacturing reshoring decisions?” and describes the importance of the identified criteria that come into play during the decision. The third one (RQ3) is “How can the criteria be modeled in decision-support tools for evaluating manufacturing reshoring decisions?” and explores the feasibility of decision support. The research methods involve systematic literature review, multiple case study, modeling, and archival research. The findings show that reshoring is a multi-criteria decision with cost, quality, and delivery time criteria are considered to be more important (high weight) than sustainability criteria (low weight). The reasoning is manifested by inference rules pertaining to the important criteria. Multi-criteria decision-making techniques such as fuzzy inference, AHP, fuzzy-AHP and fuzzy-TOPSIS are feasible for evaluating manufacturing reshoring decisions. While these techniques rely on decision-makers’ ability to specify weights and rules, rule mining is used to extract rules from large datasets. This research contributes through increased knowledge regarding the criteria, reasoning, and modeling of reshoring decisions. Furthermore, the research extrapolates on the theories that are required to move forward when investigating this topic. For practitioners, this research develops tools that can be used in different stages of the decision-making process. For society, the support tools mean making rational decisions on reshoring rather than emotional or politically motivated ones.