Designing a performance evaluation model with a world-class sustainable production approach in the automotive industry

The automobile industry is a leading industry in Iran. It is one of the industries that have the greatest impact on environmental pollution, so its movement towards sustainable production by observing world-class production standards can help the prosperity of the industry. This paper aims to propose a performance evaluation model with a sustainable production approach at the global level in Iran's automotive industry.

Design/methodology/approach:

 In this research, by using library studies and using the Meta-synthesis approach, the influencing factors on the evaluation of sustainable production performance and the evaluation of world-class performance have been extracted. Also, using the opinions of 10 experts in the automotive industry, the influencing indicators have been screened. Then, based on the expert's opinions and the use of Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM), the desired performance evaluation model has been designed. Finally, the model has been validated using the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) method and the Goodness of Fit (GOF) index.

The results indicated that the performance evaluation model with a world-class sustainable production approach had 13 indicators in 6 levels. The most influential indicators in this model were the sanctions and managerial concepts. The social concepts were identified as the most impressionable indicators. Also, among the factors, sanctions with a 79% impact on managerial concepts and a 76% impact on innovation had the most impact.

Research limitations/implications: 

The findings of this study were a result of the knowledge and empirical views of the industry experts, which, like other qualitative research, affected the generalizability of the findings. Also, according to the studied sample, the results cannot be generalized to other industries. For future study, it is recommended to implement this model in other industries, particularly in the industries that have significant environmental damage. Examining the barriers to moving towards world-class sustainable production in the automobile industry, as well as providing a mathematical model with the possibility of dual-purpose usage during the sanctions and the removal of the sanctions, are the other suggestions for future study.

Practical implications: 

Considering the importance of innovation and technological concepts in this model and their impact on the movement of the Iranian automobile industry towards sustainability and world-class production, suitable investments in such sectors can lead to the improvement of automobile companies. Also, creating a relationship between the industry and the university to produce knowledge and pay attention to the knowledge-based companies will cover the technological gaps in the automobile industry.

Social implications:

 In the proposed model, the environmental and social issues were mentioned as impressionable indicators, and was indicated that paying attention to the issues of sustainability and world-class production will lead to the improvement of the mentioned indicators. Changing the attitude in the industry, from design to production, will also reduce environmental pollution while increasing quality and flexibility along with reducing prices will lead to the end users’ increased satisfaction.

Originality/value: 

The integration of sustainable production indicators and world-class production and their impact on the automotive industry, and the examination of managerial and technological indicators among sustainable production indicators are the innovations of this study. Also, examining ‘sanction’ as an independent index in the model and determining the impact of the sanction on the automobile industry can be considered as another innovation aspect of this study.