Fabiane Letícia Lizarelli

Identificação de relações entre Melhoria Contínua e Inovação de produtos e processos por meio de revisão bibliográfica sistemática

Continuous Improvement (CI) and Innovation of products and processes generate competitive advantage for organizations, whether in relation to the cost or differentiation. Both CI and Innovation must be managed to ensure the desired results. The literature points out the necessity of coexistence of CI and Innovation, and the authors affirm that these should be aligned and developing a collaborative role. However, there is a theoretical gap about which relationships enable the desired interaction and collaboration between CI and Innovation. A Systematic Literature Review was used in order to identify and analyze the relations that specifically demonstrate connections between CI and Innovation. Based on the articles reviewed, it was possible to lay out the main relationships, pointing out the main management practices that sustain each relationship and other relevant information. The results showed relationships of different scopes, but these are not widely exploited, and gaps were identified for future research. Resumo: A Melhoria Continua (MC) e a Inovacao de produtos e processos sao estrategias que geram vantagem competitiva para as organizacoes, seja em relacao ao custo ou a diferenciacao. A MC e a Inovacao precisam ser gerenciadas de forma a assegurar, no longo prazo, os resultados desejados. Na literatura, sao observadas afirmacoes recorrentes sobre a necessidade de coexistencia da MC e da Inovacao e de que estas devem estar alinhadas e ser conduzidas de forma colaborativa e complementar. Porem, existe uma lacuna teorica sobre quais sao as relacoes existentes, no âmbito das organizacoes, que possibilitam a interacao e a colaboracao desejadas entre os projetos e as pessoas dessas duas areas. Com o intuito de identificar e analisar essas relacoes foi realizada uma Revisao Bibliografica Sistematica da literatura que aponta conexoes entre atividades de MC e de Inovacao de produtos e processos. Com base nos artigos revisados, foi possivel esquematizar as principais relacoes e apontar as principais praticas gerenciais que as sustentam. Os resultados mostraram que as publicacoes apresentam relacoes de escopo bastante diferenciado, porem estas nao sao devidamente exploradas e desdobradas, sendo possivel identificar lacunas para pesquisas futuras. Palavras-chave: Revisao bibliografica sistematica; Melhoria Continua; Inovacao; Relacoes entre MC e Inovacao.

Comparative analysis of Lean and Six Sigma improvement projects: performance, changes, investment, time and complexity

This paper describes a study of the effectiveness of Lean and Six-Sigma improvement projects. The purpose of this study is to analyse and compare improvement projects in Lean and Six-Sigma contexts based on two groups of variables – resources and results of projects. The variables related to the resources are financial investment, time, complexity of the team, complexity of the method, complexity of the tools and techniques and complexity of the training. The variables related to the results are performance impact and level of change. We developed a multiple case study on 18 Lean and Six-Sigma projects. We found a positive association between the variables of team complexity and level of change, as well as between the variables of training and complexity of the method, tools and techniques. These results highlight the importance of resource decisions for improvement projects, especially the team’s composition and level of training. The comparison between Lean and Six-Sigma projects showed that no significant differences were identified in the variables of the results (performance impact and change level). There were differences in time, complexity of tools and techniques and complexity of training. Practically, the analysis allows for more effective resource management in Six-Sigma and Lean projects.

A Gestão do Processo de Desenvolvimento de Produtos em empresas fornecedoras de bens de capital para o setor sucroenegético

O trabalho analisa a gestao do Processo de Desenvolvimento de Produtos (PDP) em uma amostra de empresas industriais fornecedoras de bens de capital para o setor sucroenergetico. Foi conduzido um survey utilizando um questionario aplicado in loco junto aos responsaveis pelo desenvolvimento de produtos numa amostra de 31 empresas. Analise de cluster foi realizada para classificar as empresas pelo grau de estruturacao de procedimentos estrategicos e operacionais, considerados relevantes para a maturidade do PDP. Tres grupos de empresas foram identificados e os resultados obtidos foram expostos de forma comparativa. Na dimensao estrategica verificaram-se diferencas mais acentuadas entre os grupos em relacao ao grau de formalizacao das atividades e uso de metodos, indicando a necessidade de fortalecimento das atividades estrategicas de gestao do PDP. A dimensao operacional mostrou-se mais estruturada do que a estrategica de forma geral e, em relacao a avaliacao do desempenho, se percebe a falta de mecanismos de monitoramento e avaliacao dos resultados do PDP, e pouca valorizacao de programas de capacitacao e de acompanhamento da qualificacao do pessoal.

Impact analysis of critical success factors on the benefits from statistical process control implementation

The Statistical Process Control - SPC is a set of statistical techniques focused on process control, monitoring and analyzing variation causes in the quality characteristics and/or in the parameters used to control and process improvements. Implementing SPC in organizations is a complex task. The reasons for its failure are related to organizational or social factors such as lack of top management commitment and little understanding about its potential benefits. Other aspects concern technical factors such as lack of training on and understanding about the statistical techniques. The main aim of the present article is to understand the interrelations between conditioning factors associated with top management commitment (Support), SPC Training and Application, as well as to understand the relationships between these factors and the benefits associated with the implementation of the program. The Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was used in the analysis since the main goal is to establish the causal relations. A cross-section survey was used as research method to collect information of samples from Brazilian auto-parts companies, which were selected according to guides from the auto-parts industry associations. A total of 170 companies were contacted by e-mail and by phone in order to be invited to participate in the survey. However, just 93 industries agreed on participating, and only 43 answered the questionnaire. The results showed that the senior management support considerably affects the way companies develop their training programs. In turn, these trainings affect the way companies apply the techniques. Thus, it will reflect on the benefits gotten from implementing the program. It was observed that the managerial and technical aspects are closely connected to each other and that they are represented by the ratio between top management and training support. The technical aspects observed through SPC application directly affect the benefits from the program.

Success factors in the implementation of statistical process control: action research in a chemical plant

Despite the Statistical Process Control (SPC) be extensively explored in the literature, there are still difficulties in the implementation and maintenance, usually due to lack of attention to Critical Success Factors (CSF). This paper identified by literature review, critical factors that contribute to the success of the SPC and through an action research was implemented a control chart in a chemical plant using these factors. The attention to CSF during planning, implementation and the discussion with the process team resulted in the implementation and acceptance of control charts by the operational teams of the company, with continuing indications of use. The results enabled a framework to apply control charts based on CSF.

Gestão de processos em uma empresa do setor elétrico

This paper states the concepts of process. A process is defined as a succession of activities, each activity has input, like materials, information and knowledge and its outputs are activities results. A process map is logical and ordered succession of these activities, then, is possible to see the process flows (material or information flow) inside a company. This article intends to show a real situation of study, to describe how the concept of business process works inside a service company. Through this study the company re-designed their process searching a better way to manage the activities. As a study result the employees improve the understanding about the company and the process. Key words: Process, Case study, Managing by process.