Environmental management and operational performance in automotive companies in Brazil: The role of human resource management and lean manufacturing

The main objective of this study is to verify the influence of Environmental Management (EM) on Operational Performance (OP) in Brazilian automotive companies, analyzing whether Lean Manufacturing (LM) and Human Resources (HR) interfere in the greening of these companies. Therefore, a conceptual framework listing these concepts was proposed, and three research hypotheses were presented. A questionnaire was elaborated based on this theoretical background and sent to respondents occupying the highest positions in the production/operations areas of Brazilian automotive companies. The data, collected from 75 companies, were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The main results are as follows: (a) the model tested revealed an adequate goodness of fit, showing that overall, the relations proposed between EM and OP and between HR, LM and EM tend to be statistically valid; (b) EM tends to influence OP in a positive and statistically weak manner; (c) LM has a greater influence on EM when compared to the influence HR has over EM; (d) HR has a positive relationship over EM, but the statistical significance of this relationship is less than that of the other evaluated relationships. The originality of this paper lies in its gathering the concepts of EM, LM, HR and OP in a single study, as they generally tend not to be treated jointly. This paper also provided valid empirical evidence for a littlestudied context: the Brazilian automotive sector. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Knowledge-based integrated Production Management Model applied to automotive companies

This paper aims to examine the relevance of a production management model, in the shop-floor operations environment, that integrates the dimensions of production organisation (lean and mass production), work organisation (enriched and semi-autonomous groups) and knowledge management. A theoretical model has been applied to automotive companies to verify model adherence. Each of those dimensions has been described by factors. Shop-floor personnel interviews were conducted to confirm the factors relevance to that company. Results have shown that the model represented the reality of those companies concerning the researched dimensions. The factors allow managers to promote a favourable context for knowledge sharing. © 2010 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Lean and green? Evidências empíricas do setor automotivo brasileiro

The aim of this paper is to verify whether the practices of lean manufacturing are positively associated with the adoption of environmental management practices in Brazilian companies in the automotive sector to test the hypothesis that by being lean the business tends to become green. To this purpose, a framework associating these concepts with the research hypothesis was proposed. The data collected from 75 companies were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling. The main results show that lean manufacturing (LM) is positively associated with environmental management (EM), but the explanation power of LM over EM is considered weak/moderate. In fact, being lean also means being green, but other organizational variables not considered in this study may influence the greening of organizations.

Lean Six sigma aplicado a uma empresa do setor de embalagens

With the advent of a global economy, Lean Six Sigma meets the demand of new production process that creates products within the customer’s specification without any wastage. The objectives of this work is to use the concepts Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma parallel to minimize costs, increase the customer base, reduce the delivery time which implies an increase in the turnover of products on the shelves in a packaging company. We used the DMAIC method to continue working. The method DMAIC indicated the main failure modes that were fixed in the step improve. At this stage the tools of Lean Manufacturing gain tremendous value by optimizing processes with defects. The conclusion involves an increase in monthly billing, a corporate restructuring and, finally, a renewal in how to conduct the work of management

Implementação da metodologia lean manufacturing em uma linha de produção por meio de certificação interna

To the companies maintain competitive in the market, they need continuous improvement in quality and productivity. This continuous improvement can be achieved through lean manufacturing tools. The idea of lean manufacturing is to map the flow to identify the processes that don’t add value in the final product, according the customer specification, in others words is eliminate or reduce the waste on the production flow. However the implementation of lean manufacturing is not so simple and involves the resistance of the employees, lack of training and the lack of knowledge to make the implementation. The objective of this study is determinate the good practices and difficulties found by a multinational company in the field of healthy that aims implementing the Lean Manufaturing through an internal certification. The methodology used to approach the problem is a case of study that analyzes the information introduced through discussion made by a semi structured interview. The case study describes the steps to get the certification, involving the concepts of 5S, balancing, standardization and routine management. The literature and the study case showed that the good practices, such as productivity increases, safety level increases and the machine stability were accomplished, but the majority difficulties was found in cultural factors and planning. Some recommendations were proposed to the others companies, such as the elaboration of a qualification matrix and the review of the activities chronogram during the implementation. The way that the company found to implement Lean Manufacturing concepts was a creative method to show to everybody the objective and the target to be accomplished and is one way to recognize the effort through the certification

Plano para implementação dos princípios lean manufacturing em microempresas alimentícias

Nowadays, being prepared for competition is a basic demand for companies to survive and expand their businesses, requiring more and more productivity enhancements and costs reductions without interfering in the products quality. Thus, it is very important to have a solid management system adapted to each specific market and industrial sector. With that, many companies invest in studies to optimize its processes aiming to increase production. This work has the goal to present a deployment plan to Lean Manufacturing principles on a small fast food enterprise. The methodology consisted on a bibliographic research followed by an observation of the daily reality and problems found in loco. The study showed that the Lean principles can be a competitive advantage when applying the plan on new processes and enable changes on old methods already implemented by the organization. Besides that, contribute to a productivity enhancement and consequently the employee's motivation

Feeding frequency, but not dietary water content, affects voluntary physical activity in young lean adult female cats

The objective of this study was to investigate whether increased dietary water content and feeding frequency increased voluntary physical activity of young, lean adult female cats. A replicated 4 x 4 Latin square design with a 2 x 2 factorial treatment arrangement (feeding frequency and water content) was used. The 4 treatments consisted of 1 meal daily dry pet food without added water (1D; 12% moisture as is), 1 meal daily dry pet food with added water (1W; 70% total water content), 4 meals daily dry pet food without added water (4D; 12% moisture as is), and 4 meals daily dry pet food with added water (4W; 70% total water content). Eight healthy adult, lean, intact, young, female domestic shorthair cats were used in this experiment. Voluntary physical activity was evaluated using Actical activity monitors placed on collars and worn around the cats'necks for the last 7 d of each experimental period of 14 d. Food anticipatory activity (FAA) was calculated based on 2 h prior to feeding periods and expressed as a percentage of total daily voluntary physical activity. Increased feeding frequency (4 vs. 1 meal daily) resulted in greater average daily activity (P = 0.0147), activity during the light period (P = 0.0023), and light: dark activity ratio (P = 0.0002). In contrast, physical activity during the dark period was not altered by feeding frequency (P > 0.05). Cats fed 4 meals daily had increased afternoon FAA (P = 0.0029) compared with cats fed once daily. Dietary water content did not affect any measure of voluntary physical activity. Increased feeding frequency is an effective strategy to increase the voluntary physical activity of cats. Thus, it may assist in the prevention and management of obesity.

Há sinergia entre o sistema lean manufacturing e a gestão ambiental? mapeando o estado da arte

In recent decades, two research themes have been prominent in the academic and organizational setting: lean manufacturing and green management. Since 1996, when Florida (1996) wrote an article focusing on the synergy between these two areas, the debate if “Lean is Green?” enters in the academic field. It is in this context that this research presents the results of a systematic literature on the topic, focusing on the characteristics, positive and negative impacts, lean paradigms, green paradigms and design of supply chains. To perform this procedure it were followed the methodological footsteps of Lage Junior and Godinho Filho (2010). The research occurred in the database Scopus and it was conducted from June, 2012 to July, 2012.The key word used was “green lean” and as search filter it were included only articles and conference Papers. Their main result is a deep analysis of the accumulated knowledge on the subject, where it is revealed that the majority of studies point to the synergy between some components of the lean manufacturing system in relation to environmental management. The research gap found is related to articles that address the entropy of the union of lean and green systems.