Redes interorganizacionais e inovação: o caso do pólo joalheiro de Belém

This work is a case study based on Belém Jewelry Pole, whose main issue is to understand how the social network (which the Pole is inserted) influences on innovation process on this area. The main objective is to analyze how interorganizational networks impacted/impact on the potential for innovation, creating both limits and opportunities for the companies development. The adopted method analyzed the historical jewelry industry trajectory since the beginning of mineral extraction in the city of Itaituba (in the Pará State) until nowadays. Primary and secondary data were used allowing the view of the dynamics of the network during transformation periods of the main involved actors in the process. The prospect of embeddedness structural as analysis technique allowed verifying the quality of interactors ties, as well as the visualization of their structures. During the jewelry industry trajectory was verified a change in the quality of social relations, modifying the information flow, trust and associations of various links in the production chain. Both direct and indirect ties facilitated the access to remote networks entering new information related to new products, processes and market aspects. This interaction has led to raising the innovation potential causing a qualitative and quantitative improvement in competitiveness of organizations. Some embedded ties allowed the formation of partnerships bringing various economic earnings for those involved in the relationship. Thus, it is understood how aspects related to the position, architecture and quality of ties in a wide social network influenced on the innovation process and eventual jewelry industry trajectory

A gestão do conhecimento e a inovação tecnológica como fatores de sobrevivência e de competitividade na sociedade do conhecimento: uma análise exploratória das MPEs do Rio Grande do Norte

The study examines the process of Knowledge Management and Technological Innovation in Small and Micro Enterprises (SME) in Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, and proposes actions that can contribute to regional development and competitiveness of SME. Presents as technological innovation can help to make the SME entrepreneurial activities with innovative and competitive. Defines the phases and activities of the construction of knowledge in small organizations. Examines the process of Innovation, Research and Development (R & D) in SME. Identifies the use of knowledge management and technological innovation in management practices and social interaction to influence the competitiveness of SME. Covers the communities of practice as a diffuser of knowledge and learning. To obtain the data were used questionnaires with closed questions with multiple choice, direct observations and interviews with companies. The questionnaires and interviews covered the topics of Innovation, Knowledge Management and Competitive Intelligence on SME. The sample consisted of a total of 13 Small and Micro Enterprises Award winning MPE Brazil Competitiveness, sponsored by SEBRAE in the State of Rio Grande do Norte. The assessment questionnaires dealing with the Knowledge Management (KM Diagnostics - Model Bukowitz and Williams, 2002) and the process of Technological Innovation (Adaptation of ANPEI - National Association for Research, Development and Engineering of Innovative Companies). With the analysis, we concluded that the SME perceive knowledge management, but not formalized management practices so as to facilitate the dissemination of information. Soon, these companies need additional supports to direct them to the innovative activities that generate added value and competitiveness in the market

Produção artesanal : análise do método de intervenção de design no artesanato potiguar sob o ponto de vista dos atores envolvidos no processo

This work presents an analysis of the method of intervention used in the craft of design by SEBRAE in Rio Grande do Norte under the viewpoint of the actors involved, especially the craftsmen and design consultants. The research methodology used was based on the ergonomic work analysis - AET, applying observational techniques and interactive. Data tabulated from the matrix to include comments were analyzed in order to allow the generation of qualitative and quantitative information. The results of this research allow us to affirm that for the process of innovation through the design of intervention are satisfactory for all involved, it is necessary that the bonds of interaction are established and the joint actions in the innovation process to bear fruit in favor sustainability of artisan groups

Experimentação, inovação cultura oganizacional: estudo de caso em uma indústria

A experimentação industrial é um método científico de aprendizagem que visa aprimorar conhecimentos sobre o funcionamento de sistemas, almejando redução de variabilidade e incertezas nos processos produtivos. Em inovação, constitui-se como uma oportunidade de teste e pré-implementação, permitindo à empresa aperfeiçoar seus projetos de inovação antes de levá-los ao mercado. Contudo, para que empresas obtenham sucesso em inovar, faz-se necessário um ambiente favorável à inovação, considerando que a cultura organizacional impacta diretamente no potencial inovador. Uma cultura de inovação bem desenvolvida demanda o envolvimento de todos os líderes da empresa atuando como facilitadores do processo. Nesse contexto, esta pesquisa tem como propósito avaliar o perfil da cultura organizacional visando o uso de experimentação no processo de inovação em uma indústria do ramo alimentício no Estado do Rio Grande do Norte. Para tanto, busca-se, por meio de fundamentação teórica, ampliar a compreensão da relação existente entre os temas experimentação, inovação e cultura organizacional, e tem-se como método de pesquisa, uma abordagem quanti-qualitativa em um estudo de caso. Os dados para análise da pesquisa são coletados por meio de entrevistas e aplicação de questionários. Para avaliar a cultura organizacional, utiliza-se como instrumento o questionário baseado no Modelo de Valores Competitivos, desenvolvido por Cameron e Quinn (2006), aplicado com os líderes na empresa em estudo. Este instrumento, denominado OCAI (em inglês Organizacional Culture Assessment Instrument), permite diagnosticar o perfil da cultura organizacional e da cultura da qualidade no cenário atual e no contexto ideal, a partir da percepção dos líderes da organização. Para análise dos dados, utiliza-se a técnica de análise de agrupamento, que permite avaliar a homogeneidade das opiniões dos líderes. Os resultados apontam, conforme a visão dos líderes, a necessidade de mudança no perfil cultural organizacional da empresa em estudo, de uma cultura em que predominam elementos da cultura de mercado (cenário atual) para uma cultura com maior ênfase em elementos da cultura clã e inovadora (cenário ideal), bem como uma cultura de qualidade que estimule a inovação, favorável à geração de ideia e conhecimento, a melhoria contínua e a busca por soluções criativas

Redes interorganizacionais e inovação: o caso do pólo joalheiro de Belém

This work is a case study based on Belém Jewelry Pole, whose main issue is to understand how the social network (which the Pole is inserted) influences on innovation process on this area. The main objective is to analyze how interorganizational networks impacted/impact on the potential for innovation, creating both limits and opportunities for the companies development. The adopted method analyzed the historical jewelry industry trajectory since the beginning of mineral extraction in the city of Itaituba (in the Pará State) until nowadays. Primary and secondary data were used allowing the view of the dynamics of the network during transformation periods of the main involved actors in the process. The prospect of embeddedness structural as analysis technique allowed verifying the quality of interactors ties, as well as the visualization of their structures. During the jewelry industry trajectory was verified a change in the quality of social relations, modifying the information flow, trust and associations of various links in the production chain. Both direct and indirect ties facilitated the access to remote networks entering new information related to new products, processes and market aspects. This interaction has led to raising the innovation potential causing a qualitative and quantitative improvement in competitiveness of organizations. Some embedded ties allowed the formation of partnerships bringing various economic earnings for those involved in the relationship. Thus, it is understood how aspects related to the position, architecture and quality of ties in a wide social network influenced on the innovation process and eventual jewelry industry trajectory

As relações da tríplice hélice no setor da carcinicultura do Rio Grande do Norte: uma análise a partir das abordagens da imersão social e da dependência de recursos

This work consists in a study of the Shrimp Industry in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, whose central issue relates to the understanding of how the Triple Helix (University, Government and the productive sector) interrelationship limits or expands the industry s innovation process. The study aims to understand how the Triple Helix relationship interferes in the innovation process of shrimp in Rio Grande do Norte. As the knowledge becomes the resource key for production methods, the generation of new technologies, new products and processes which demands joint and integrated action of the institutions comprising the Triple Helix: University, Government and productive sector, which possess the essential resources to innovate the process and can be maximized from cooperative relationships between the referred Institutions. Thus, in this work, it was sharply used the pioneering studies of Sabato and Botana (1968) regarding the cooperation relationship between the scientific-technological sphere, the governmental and the productive base, and studies on the Triple Helix approach, proposed by Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff (2000), in which the university has a key role in the process of technological and innovative development of countries and regions, and under which it is assigned to the very University - the character of the entrepreneurial institution, through the concept of entrepreneurial University. Aiming to overcome the criticism of Cooke (2005), regarding the limitations of the Triple Helix approach, in this study it was used - as analytical perspectives - the perspective of social immersion (Granovetter, 1985, 2005) and the theory of resources dependence (PFEFFER; SALANCIK, 1978). The analytical perspectives presented in here, despite of the different assumptions, are essential to eliminate the bias that one only approach can lead (ASTLEY; VAN DE VEM; 2007). The authors arguments focus on the fact that the integration is possible if the researcher acknowledged that different perspectives may have different descriptions of the same phenomenon. As a research strategy, this study is characterized as a study case, along with the proposed objectives - the qualitative method was used as an approach and, depending on the gathering of the sector s historical, a sectional longitudinal view approach was applied (VIEIRA, 2004). The primary and secondary data were used in order to understand the sector s evolutionary process and its inter-institutional relations - regarding the shrimp culture in Rio Grande do Norte - to promote the development, as the content was used for the technical analysis (BARDIN, 1977). The approach of social immersion and resources addiction dependence made it possible to understand that relationships are established within and between each sphere (university, government and productive sector) characterizing a network of low density relationships and strongly internal and external dependence. Based on the speech of Etzkowitz and Mello (2006), a successful Triple Helix strategy of innovation requires not only the involvement and commitment of the parts, within the institutional sphere and among them, but also the development of mechanisms to coordinate the multiple and complex interactions and interfaces, focusing on promoting both environment and context for innovation and learning; it can be acknowledge from study results that the shrimp in the State of the RN, although there are several institutional mechanisms to promote greater integration and technological development, has been presented disjointed - both internally and between the spheres - and under no legitimate practice when facing the innovational promotion and integration institutions. Due to those factors, the central institutions of the network are crucial to the promotion of innovations, spreading through their direct contacts the importance factor of the sustainable competitive activity in the world market and on the national level. However, it may be concluded, from the data, that the Triple Helix relations are interfering in a negative way on what concerns the promotion of innovations in the shrimp industry in RN

Estudo de massa cerâmica triaxial visando à otimização do ciclo de queima da indústria de cerâmica estrutural

Over recent years the structural ceramics industry in Brazil has found a very favorable market for growth. However, difficulties related to productivity and product quality are partially inhibiting this possible growth. An alternative for trying to solve these problems and, thus, provide the pottery industry the feasibility of full development, is the substitution of firewood used in the burning process by natural gas. In order to contribute to this process of technological innovation, this paper studies the effect of co-use of ceramic phyllite and kaolin waste on the properties of a clay matrix, verifying the possible benefits that these raw materials can give to the final product, as well as the possibility of such materials to reduce the heat load necessary to obtain products with equal or superior quality. The study was divided into two steps: characterization of materials and study of formulations. Two clays, a phyllite and a residue of kaolin were characterized by the following techniques: laser granulometry, plasticity index by Atterberg limits, X-ray fluorescence, X-ray diffraction, mineralogical composition by Rietveld, thermogravimetric and differential thermal analysis. To study the formulations, specifically for evaluation of technological properties of the parts, was performed an experimental model that combined planning involving a mixture of three components (standard mass x phyllite x kaolin waste) and a 23 factorial design with central point associated with thermal processing parameters. The experiment was performed with restricted strip-plot randomization. In total, 13 compositional points were investigated within the following constraints: phyllite ≤ 20% by weight, kaolin waste ≤ 40% by weight, and standard mass ≥ 60% by weight. The thermal parameters were used at the following levels: 750 and 950 °C to the firing temperature, 5 and 15 °C/min at the heating rate, 15 and 45min to the baseline. The results showed that the introduction of phyllite and/or kaolin waste in ceramic body produced a number of benefits in properties of the final product, such as: decreased absorption of water, apparent porosity and linear retraction at burn; besides the increase in apparent specific mass and mechanical properties of parts. The best results were obtained in the compositional points where the sum of the levels of kaolin waste and phyllite was maximal (40% by weight), as well as conditions which were used in firing temperatures of 950 °C. Regarding the prospect of savings in heat energy required to form the desired microstructure, the phyllite and the residue of kaolin, for having small particle sizes and constitutions mineralogical phases with the presence of fluxes, contributed to the optimization of the firing cycle.

A indústria petrolífera nacional e potiguar: uma análise a partir da tecnologia em E&P

O trabalho analisa a Indústria Petrolífera em três ambientes de atuação, mundial, nacional e estadual, a partir da observação de sete variáveis, a saber: caráter do petróleo; risco; economia de escala; integração; barreiras; tecnologia e ambiente. O estudo busca perceber as interações e os transbordamentos das variáveis selecionadas em cada um dos ambientes citados, em razão os aspectos econômicos e institucionais presentes nesta atividade, cujos resultados atingem diversos setores da economia e da sociedade como um todo e balizam o próprio processo de inovação da mesma. O estudo está alicerçado no arcabouço teórico neoschumpeteriano acerca dos aspectos voltados para concorrência e inovação, além da questão institucional, e se apóia em dados da Agência Nacional do Petróleo (A.N.P.), Ministério de Minas e Energia (MME), Movimento de Combate à Corrupção Eleitoral / Tribunal Superior Eleitoral (MCCE/TSE), Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), International Energy Agency (IAE), Institut Français Pétrole (IFP), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Avalia-se que em termos de caracterização da indústria petrolífera nos três ambientes considerados (mundial, nacional e local), há certa similitude no que se refere ao comportamento destas variáveis, com pequenas modificações suscitadas por fatores como grau de desenvolvimento e complexidade da atividade; resultado do ambiente concorrencial e inovativo; e, pelas influências institucionais acerca de atividades e grau de inserção das mesmas no ambiente socioeconômico onde estão localizadas a atividade produtiva e o seu entorno

Integrating strategic and sustainable design approach for innovation process: a cement case study

Global society and technology have changed the relationships of the market. Quality and cost are not the main aspects of any industrial product. On the other hand, design, innovation and sustainability became significant requirements to company’s competitiveness. In this context, the design approach has shown evolutions, integrating social and environmental aspects beside traditional aspects such as technical and economic. Still, design has been becoming a strategic opportunity for companies, improving their competitiveness and increasing their market share. Thus, this research has analyzed the integration of both the Sustainable Design and Strategic Design Coaching (SDC) method in the making decision activities of companies. A cement company (BQMIL) was assigned as case study, in which the previous results have pointed out the significant hole of those concepts to generate Eco-innovation and Eco-Brand to increase its market share, corroborating the expectative of the design team

A cadeia produtiva de gás natural no Rio Grande do Norte e perspectivas para o setor

The paper demonstrates how it is organized production chain of natural gas in Rio Grande do Norte and highlights some prospects for this sector. The study is backed by elements to understand the process of innovation as the driving force of capitalist dynamics as well as the features of the Brazilian economy in the years 1990 and 2000 that indicated the development of natural gas production in the energy matrix Brazil. It was found that the state has potiguar possibilities for structuring an energy based on elements from the region and with prospects of becoming self-sufficient in electricity, where natural gas has a share of participation in this segment. The automotive and industrial are the biggest consumers of this input. With emphasis on the textile industry. Signaling to a broad horizon of supply, this sector will depend on their investments in research and Deficient, and the policy adopted by government to develop the consumer market

As relações da tríplice hélice no setor da carcinicultura do Rio Grande do Norte: uma análise a partir das abordagens da imersão social e da dependência de recursos

This work consists in a study of the Shrimp Industry in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, whose central issue relates to the understanding of how the Triple Helix (University, Government and the productive sector) interrelationship limits or expands the industry s innovation process. The study aims to understand how the Triple Helix relationship interferes in the innovation process of shrimp in Rio Grande do Norte. As the knowledge becomes the resource key for production methods, the generation of new technologies, new products and processes which demands joint and integrated action of the institutions comprising the Triple Helix: University, Government and productive sector, which possess the essential resources to innovate the process and can be maximized from cooperative relationships between the referred Institutions. Thus, in this work, it was sharply used the pioneering studies of Sabato and Botana (1968) regarding the cooperation relationship between the scientific-technological sphere, the governmental and the productive base, and studies on the Triple Helix approach, proposed by Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff (2000), in which the university has a key role in the process of technological and innovative development of countries and regions, and under which it is assigned to the very University - the character of the entrepreneurial institution, through the concept of entrepreneurial University. Aiming to overcome the criticism of Cooke (2005), regarding the limitations of the Triple Helix approach, in this study it was used - as analytical perspectives - the perspective of social immersion (Granovetter, 1985, 2005) and the theory of resources dependence (PFEFFER; SALANCIK, 1978). The analytical perspectives presented in here, despite of the different assumptions, are essential to eliminate the bias that one only approach can lead (ASTLEY; VAN DE VEM; 2007). The authors arguments focus on the fact that the integration is possible if the researcher acknowledged that different perspectives may have different descriptions of the same phenomenon. As a research strategy, this study is characterized as a study case, along with the proposed objectives - the qualitative method was used as an approach and, depending on the gathering of the sector s historical, a sectional longitudinal view approach was applied (VIEIRA, 2004). The primary and secondary data were used in order to understand the sector s evolutionary process and its inter-institutional relations - regarding the shrimp culture in Rio Grande do Norte - to promote the development, as the content was used for the technical analysis (BARDIN, 1977). The approach of social immersion and resources addiction dependence made it possible to understand that relationships are established within and between each sphere (university, government and productive sector) characterizing a network of low density relationships and strongly internal and external dependence. Based on the speech of Etzkowitz and Mello (2006), a successful Triple Helix strategy of innovation requires not only the involvement and commitment of the parts, within the institutional sphere and among them, but also the development of mechanisms to coordinate the multiple and complex interactions and interfaces, focusing on promoting both environment and context for innovation and learning; it can be acknowledge from study results that the shrimp in the State of the RN, although there are several institutional mechanisms to promote greater integration and technological development, has been presented disjointed - both internally and between the spheres - and under no legitimate practice when facing the innovational promotion and integration institutions. Due to those factors, the central institutions of the network are crucial to the promotion of innovations, spreading through their direct contacts the importance factor of the sustainable competitive activity in the world market and on the national level. However, it may be concluded, from the data, that the Triple Helix relations are interfering in a negative way on what concerns the promotion of innovations in the shrimp industry in RN

Estudo de massa cerâmica triaxial visando à otimização do ciclo de queima da indústria de cerâmica estrutural

Over recent years the structural ceramics industry in Brazil has found a very favorable market for growth. However, difficulties related to productivity and product quality are partially inhibiting this possible growth. An alternative for trying to solve these problems and, thus, provide the pottery industry the feasibility of full development, is the substitution of firewood used in the burning process by natural gas. In order to contribute to this process of technological innovation, this paper studies the effect of co-use of ceramic phyllite and kaolin waste on the properties of a clay matrix, verifying the possible benefits that these raw materials can give to the final product, as well as the possibility of such materials to reduce the heat load necessary to obtain products with equal or superior quality. The study was divided into two steps: characterization of materials and study of formulations. Two clays, a phyllite and a residue of kaolin were characterized by the following techniques: laser granulometry, plasticity index by Atterberg limits, X-ray fluorescence, X-ray diffraction, mineralogical composition by Rietveld, thermogravimetric and differential thermal analysis. To study the formulations, specifically for evaluation of technological properties of the parts, was performed an experimental model that combined planning involving a mixture of three components (standard mass x phyllite x kaolin waste) and a 23 factorial design with central point associated with thermal processing parameters. The experiment was performed with restricted strip-plot randomization. In total, 13 compositional points were investigated within the following constraints: phyllite ≤ 20% by weight, kaolin waste ≤ 40% by weight, and standard mass ≥ 60% by weight. The thermal parameters were used at the following levels: 750 and 950 °C to the firing temperature, 5 and 15 °C/min at the heating rate, 15 and 45min to the baseline. The results showed that the introduction of phyllite and/or kaolin waste in ceramic body produced a number of benefits in properties of the final product, such as: decreased absorption of water, apparent porosity and linear retraction at burn; besides the increase in apparent specific mass and mechanical properties of parts. The best results were obtained in the compositional points where the sum of the levels of kaolin waste and phyllite was maximal (40% by weight), as well as conditions which were used in firing temperatures of 950 °C. Regarding the prospect of savings in heat energy required to form the desired microstructure, the phyllite and the residue of kaolin, for having small particle sizes and constitutions mineralogical phases with the presence of fluxes, contributed to the optimization of the firing cycle.

A Geração de inovação na carcinicultura do RN: Uma análise a partir da imersão social

This dissertation examines the organizational innovation as a nonlinear process, which occurs in a social and political context and, therefore, socially immersed. Examines the case of shrimp in the state of RN, starting from the following problem: although the norteriograndense shrimp occupies the largest producer of farmed shrimp from Brazil, has a series of bottlenecks concerning the generation of industry innovation, concerning the social relationships and policies between the various actors in the network, whether private or public, and its consequences in terms of opportunity and limits generated for the innovative dynamics. The objective of the research is to understand how the social embeddedness of political actors affects norteriograndense shrimp within the context of structural relations, the industry generation of innovation, throughout its technological trajectory . The approach of social embeddedness balances atomised perspectives, undersocialized and oversocialized, of economic action, considering both the human capacity to act as sources of constraint, whose mechanisms are analyzed the structural and political. In methodological terms this is a case study, analyzed from the research literature, documentary and experimental. Primary data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed in depth by the technique of content analysis. Was adopted a longitudinal approach, seeking to understand the phenomenon from the perspective of the subjects, describing it in an inductive process of investigation. After characterizing the sector and defining their technological trajectory, the analysis of the results followed its four stages: (1) Introduction of Technology: 1973-1980, (2) Intensification of Research: 1981-1991, (3) Technological Adaptation, 1992 -2003, (4) Technological Crisis: 2004-2009. A cross-sectional analysis along the evolutionary trajectory revealed the character of structural changes and policies over time, and implications on the generating process of innovation. Note that, the technological limit to which the sector reached requires changes in technology standards, but is more likely that the potiguar shrimp is entering a new phase of his career in technology rather than a new technological paradigm

Viabilidade do processo de enfermagem no contexto hospitalar

The Nursing Process (NP) is considered as the dynamics of the systemized and inter-related actions of human care. We believe that the nursing manager, as the representative of all the nursing care provided in the hospital setting, is an important agent for the implementation of institutional policies, such as the NP, in the service. However, there is little information in the literature about the NP in the perspective of the nurse manager. The objective of this study was to analyze the viability of the Nursing Process in the hospital context based on the attitudes of the nurse managers toward the Process. We conducted a descriptive-exploratory research study, of quantitative approach, with a population of 45 nurse managers that worked in the state hospitals located in Natal, RN and in the university hospitals of the UFRN. Two instruments were used for the collection of data: a nursing process questionnaire, constructed for use in this study, and the scale for the measurement of the attitudes titled Positions on the Nursing Process. The population is predominantly feminine (91,0%) and have relative nursing practice experience (Mean=17,6 years). However, they have little experience in management (Mean=8,6 years). They express little knowledge of the PE nursing terms and little experience with the Process. They have a positive atitude toward the NP (Mean = 110,9); are favorable to its developement in the service (86,7%); 48,9% indicated little possibility of institutionalization in the service and 37,8% indicated large possibility. The Spearman test for association between the variables of attitude about the NP and the possibility of its institutionalization demonstrated a weak negative association in the total individual scores of the attitudes (-,316) as in the 20 itens of the instrument, with coefficients varying from 0,014 to 0,464. Factorial analysis of the instrument identified three underlying factors to the attitudes of the managers in this study: relevance, operationalization and collaboration, with Cronbach Alpha coeficients of 0,955, 0,844 and 0,807, respectively, and 0,956 for the whole instrument, indicating that the scale and its factorial subscales have internal consistency. We conclude that there is a weak tendency for the managers with a favorable attitude to have a negative perception about the possibility of institutionalization of the NP in the service. The favorable position does not appear to be sufficient for the viability of this methodology in the hospital sector, results that is worrisome for nursing. This situation suggests that the difficulties with the institution of the NP in the hospitals may be related to other factors, including the organizational conditions. We believe that the institucionalization of the NP in a servisse where it is not known and not practiced, constitutes the introduction of an innovative work technology that involves many demands, among them the adherence of the persons to the proposed innovation. This demands time and the institutional adjustments and the human resources necessary. In this process, the involvement of the health professional of the institution is necessary. This situation brings to light the discussions of professional autonomy, the action limits and perspectives, the redefinition of roles, delimiation (or consensus) of the objects of study and of the work processes, among others.

Controle de estoques de sal: uma inovação da quantificação e no gerenciamento dos recursos naturais da indústria mineral

The strengthening of the domestic industry in Brazil required the modernization, mechanization and expansion of salt production. Thereafter the production of sea salt started to be made in a process of continuous flow, where the product is constantly stored in yards, with daily movements in and out of salt. Thus far, the major bottleneck found in this production process is the control of production, because due to the large amount produced and variety of losses existing in the various stages of production there are not a regulated and safe way to control inventories with accuracy and speed demanded. In a typical case with a salt marsh company of Rio Grande do Norte state, salt produced is stored in two open courtyards and inventory control of salt made by carrying input / output relationship of salt in each storage yard. This work developed a conceptual model of inventory control, based on topography, adopting surveys into one of the courtyards of the company. There were 25 biweekly survey measurements over a year book to generate digital models representing the stock. For each measurement, results were compared with the values of inventory accounting provided by the salt marsh in order to identify existing losses and mark out the sales department on the actual stock available at each measurement date. Inventories calculated by the model indicated losses of 6,349 tonnes for the period of one year book and 3,279 tonnes for the period between harvests, when compared to the accounting control