Aplicabilidade da filosofia enxuta em indústrias de processo contínuo: um estudo de caso

Abstract

Lean philosophy can be seen as a systematic approach to identify and eliminate non-value added activities as well as waste through continuous improvement concepts and harmonization of the production process, with the aim to improve the organization in terms of productivity and efficiency and to get as close as possible to operational excellence. For continuous production processes, such as cement, paper, beverages, and chemicals, the application of lean concepts is synonymous with challenge mainly due to the virtual absence of process inventory, and almost independency of suppliers. However, some tools of lean manufacturing have been adapted successfully to continuous processes in order to improve the organizations to achieve operational excellence. One of them is the Value Stream Mapping (VSM). Within the framework of this research work, the primary objective was to verify the applicability of lean philosophy in industries with continuous manufacturing processes. The author verified the said applicability in XYZ, a mining firm of fine dry ground calcium carbonate located in Campos Gerais, Paraná, with the goal to validate the concept. The current state of XYZ firm as well as the desired state (or recommended) were worked out. Tools such as brainstorming, Ishikawa diagram, Project Charter, Pareto diagram, 5W2H and KPIs were essential in the preparation of this work. It was shown that lean philosophy, derived from th e automotive industry, can be applied in segments with continuous manufacturing processes, as in the XYZ firm. The big challenge in the case of the latter is to implement improvements in a n extremely lean structure, where lean thinking exists thanks to the high level of automation of the entire plant.