Geraldo Cardoso de Oliveira Neto

The environmental performance of SMEs in the Brazilian textile industry and the relationship with their financial performance

Currently, the concern with the environment is increasing and organizations seek solutions to preserve nature and at the same time earn higher profits or competitiveness. For this, they make frequent use of structured procedures in order to reduce their costs and expenses. However, it has not been always considered the environmental performance related to the financial performance of these processes. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between environmental performance measured by eco-efficiency level with the financial performance of small and medium textile manufacturing companies. This study was done through a survey conducted in the interest of research companies in the state of Paraná in Brazil, where financial and environmental performance indicators were measured. The data analysis and validation of the hypotheses proposed, to some extent showed a surprising result because the larger the size of the company, the worst its environmental performance measured by their eco-efficiency level. On the other hand, it was not possible to identify a statistically significant relationship between environmental and financial performances of the companies surveyed. Therefore, it is concluded that this study is in line with those authors who claim not to be possible to establish a direct relationship between environmental and financial performances of companies, in opposition of another group of authors who claim contrariwise.

Production planning and control as a tool for eco-efficency improvement and environmental impact reduction

Abstract The environmental impacts of industrial activity are an increasing concern amongst firms and their stakeholders. As a result, companies around the world have been exploring new tools to diminish the adverse impact of their activities on the environment. Eco-efficiency has played an essential role in this scenario, as companies are continuously seeking to produce more while utilizsing fewer resources and minimising adverse effects on the environment. The literature includes several initiatives to improve eco-efficiency and to reduce the environmental impact of manufacturing operations, but the use of production planning and control (PPC) activities to accomplish these goals has rarely been considered. Therefore, to contribute to the assessment of this issue, this paper proposes to integrate environmental concepts and actions as part of the PPC execution; therefore, they could also be applied to minimise environmental impacts, resulting in an increase in the eco-efficiency level of a company. The practical utilisation of the suggested procedure was confirmed using a case study where the procedure was successfully applied to a make-to-order firm, where a simplified version of a workload control (WLC) form of PPC was in use. As a result, incorporating environmental considerations into the WLC practices enabled the eco-efficiency level of the designated production area to increase by 42%, while the environmental impact of production was reduced by 13%.

Selection of Logistic Service Providers for the transportation of refrigerated goods

Abstract The aim of this article is to propose a decision model based on Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) for the evaluation and selection of Logistics Service Providers (LSPs) for a refrigerated products company. The results indicated that quality, responsiveness and reliability are the most important criteria for selecting an LSP for the transportation of perishable refrigerated goods, considering contractor’s profile, which is based on protection of its brand and reputation in the market. In addition, sensitivity analysis is performed to verify priority ranking stability. Therefore, this research illustrates how AHP model could be implemented to help the decision-making process for selecting third-party services in logistics for perishable refrigerated goods effectively.

Avaliação das vantagens ambientais e econômicas da implantação da logística reversa no setor de vidros impressos

Esta investigacion tuvo como objetivo evaluar las ventajas medioambientales y economicas de un proceso de logistica inversa de los vidrios impresos de un gran sector de la sociedad. La compania implemento una logistica inversa para la gestion de la proteccion del producto envasado de residuos solidos, que consiste en cajas de madera forradas de acero collar de carton y tambien la reutilizacion de los cristales rotos. En este estudio de caso exploratorio de origen, con la recoleccion de datos a traves de entrevistas y observacion participante, caracterizada como cualitativa y cuantitativa, a la altura de las ventajas economicas y ambientales de la aplicacion de la logistica inversa. Para el analisis de la ventaja ambiental se utilizo el metodo de Wuppertal. Los resultados mostraron un beneficio ambiental de 131,86 kg de material no se modifica y se retira del medio ambiente y el beneficio economico de 37.4% de los ingresos netos promedio total de la reutilizacion de los envases y la reutilizacion de los cristales rotos.

Economic and Environmental Advantages of Rubber Recycling

This research aims to evaluate the economic and environmental advantages of the adoption of Cleaner Production practices in a rubber products manufacturer. The inappropriate waste disposal of rubber was an issue to be solved, so recycle this material was the way to mitigate environmental impact. The economic gain was evaluated by calculating the return over investment and the environmental benefits through the methodology of mass intensity factor. The results showed a return over investment in 17 months, however the most expressive advantage was at the environmental perspective.

Riscos Operacionais para o Transporte Rodoviário de Carga Pesada: Estudo de Caso em um Operador Logístico

O caso em estudo tem por objetivo identificar no operador logistico especializado em transporte rodoviario de cargas pesadas os possiveis riscos operacionais, com base nos indicadores de desempenho. Ressalta-se que as organizacoes implantam indicadores de desempenho na operacao nas operacoes criticas com o objetivo de mitigar os riscos. O metodo de pesquisa e de origem exploratoria, com coleta de dados por meio de observacao participante e entrevista semiestruturada, caracterizado como qualitativo e quantitativo. Os resultados mostraram 22 riscos para o transporte rodoviario de carga pesada constatados no processo de controle por meio de 5 indicadores de desempenho: Dead Lines, Specify Training, Service Level Agreement e Damages. Conclui-se que a identificacao dos principais riscos possibilita o desenvolvimento de meios de mitigacao pelos gestores do transporte de carga pesada visando a efetividade operacional para satisfacao dos clientes e indica a oportunidade de implantar indicadores de desempenho nos processos criticos.