Developing a neutral slacks-based measure for production line selection

Production line selection has a strategic importance for every company. One of the techniques that can be used for selecting production line is data envelopment analysis (DEA). Traditional DEA models such as Charnes-Cooper-Rhodes and Banker-Charnes-Cooper can only measure radial efficiency (weak efficiency). To measure strong efficiency in DEA, Tone (2001) proposed slacks-based measure (SBM). This model deals directly with the input excesses and output shortfalls. The objective of this paper is to propose a neutral SBM for selecting the best production line. A case study demonstrates the application of the proposed model.