A multi-criteria decision analysis approach for evaluating production technology in battery cell manufacturing

The rapid global expansion of lithium-ion battery manufacturing requires systematic methods to compare and evaluate established and innovative production technologies. This paper develops a multi-criteria decision analysis approach to assess process equipment along four dimensions: cost, throughput, quality and sustainability. Ten criteria are defined, derived from a literature review. Building on these criteria, PROMETHEE II is selected as a suitable multi-criteria decision analysis method and adapted to the battery manufacturing context. The adaptations include exclusion criteria for minimum performance requirements, modelling of parameter uncertainty via Monte Carlo simulation, tailored preference functions for different criteria, and a user-specific weighting scheme reflecting different stakeholder priorities. The evaluation method is illustrated in a case study comparing knife and laser slitting of electrodes. The case study shows that advantages, such as improved quality, must always be weighed against disadvantages, such as higher investment costs. A tipping-point analysis demonstrates how the method can translate abstract trade-offs into concrete technological or economic targets, e.g., required cost reductions. The proposed approach provides a transparent, flexible decision-support framework for selecting production technologies and for guiding R&D and investment priorities in battery cell manufacturing.