Purpose Various networked organizational forms already exist in the market today, however, all of them share the same problem – lack of fast and objective procedures for partners’ selection when addressing a particular project. The purpose of this paper is to solve such problems by offering an alternative to the existing global market layout, dominated by large corporations. Design/methodology/approach This research belongs to the category “fuzzy decision making and multi-attributive decision making,” since it is using methodologies such as the analytical hierarchy process (AHP), the fuzzy-AHP approach, and the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution. Findings The authors defend that appropriate partner selection is a vital success factor in any collaboration. Research limitations/implications The authors have designed a sustainable partner network solution for the field of machinery. Nevertheless, the proposed approach is adaptable to other fields also, whereas the focal player or project owner selects the best partner based on a set of criteria. Practical implications The paper includes a feasibility case study for the approval of findings, where several small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from the field of machining collaborate to achieve a common goal. Social implications The research focuses on production enterprises (especially for SMEs) and is intended to improve their competitiveness. Small enterprises combining into a network makes it possible to compete with large corporations and helps to decrease project initiation time and project realization risks. Originality/value The main idea is to collect information about the available resources of SMEs into a new temporary entity and to utilize those resources for the realization of the tasks of a particularly large project, while meeting customer expectations. In addition, this work also suggests a calculation tool for faster partner evaluation (assessment) based on various criteria for each particular project.

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Decision-making is a major problem in industry. Therefore this research is focused on the decision-making framework development with Lean and Green Manufacturing tools and End-of-Life scenario consideration. A specific mechanism was developed for used industrial equipment life cycle extension in order to save money, nature, and society. The proposed framework makes business more profitable by including an innovative approach of using complex TRIZ to make it more universal and easy to use for the largest variation of used industrial products. To achieve this aim the Green Matrix was elaborated on the basis of the TRIZ Contradiction Matrix and Green Engineering principles. Much attention was paid to the remanufacturing process in the decision-making framework to assess the moment condition of equipment. An integrated method for evaluating the remanufacturability of the used industrial equipment is proposed, in which the technological, economic and environmental assessment of spent industrial products is analyzed in terms of remanufacturing. Development of an approach for used industrial product assessment improves company inventory controllability and utilization that in turn minimizes environmental impact and resource consumption during the entire product cycle.

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This research introduces a new approach of using Six Sigma DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve, Control)