A case study of concurrent engineering application on the development of parts for the white goods industry in Brazil

This classical way to manage product development processes for massive production seems to be changing: high pressure for cost reduction, higher quality standards, markets reaching for innovation lead to the necessity of new tools for development control. Into this, and learning from the automotive and aerospace industries factories from other segments are starting to understand and apply manufacturing and assembly oriented projects to ease the task of generate goods and from this obtain at least a part of the expected results. This paper is intended to demonstrate the applicability of the concepts of Concurrent Engineering and DFM/DFA (Design for Manufacturing and Assembly) in the development of products and parts for the White Goods industry in Brazil (major appliances as refrigerators, cookers and washing machines), showing one case concerning the development and releasing of a component. Finally is demonstrated in a short term how was reached a solution that could provide cost savings and reduction on the time to delivery using those techniques.

Final report of the White Goods Task Force to the 88th General Assembly and the Governor of Illinois.

On June 29, 1992, the Illinois General Assembly enacted Public Act 87-858 which placed an impending ban on the landfill disposal of "white goods" and required the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and the Illinois Department of Energy and Natural Resources to establish a Task Force to develop and propose desired statutory, regulatory, and programmatic changes necessary to effectively implement the provisions of the legislation.

Acumulação de competências tecnológicas em processos e produtos e aprendizagem tenológica: o caso da ELETROLUX do Brasil S/A - Unidade de Guabirotuba - Curitiba/PR

This dissertation is concerned with the implications of the learning process on the technological capabilities accumulation. This relationship was examined at the Electrolux do Brasil S/A ¿ Guabirotuba Unity ¿ in Curitiba/PR, over the period of 1980 to 2000. The Brazilian factory products White Goods destined to the Brazilian market as well as to exportation. The Swedish group Electrolux, to which the Brazilian factory belongs to, produces and sell goods to more then 150 countries. Regardless their importance, studies on the accumulation of technological capabilities and the underlying learning process are still scarce in Brazil, especially those focusing on the eletrodomestics products, and more specifically on the refrigerators and freezers industry. Based on a case study in the Electrolux do Brasil S/A, from 1980 to 2000, this investigation examined the influence of the learning process in the paths of the technological capabilities accumulation in the firm. The learning processes were analyzed in the light of the analytical framework proposed by Figueiredo (2001). This framework consists in four key features: variety, intensity, functioning and interaction. The technological capabilities accumulation were studied considering two technological functions: Process and Production Organization Activities and Products Activities. The evidences to classify and describe the paths of technological capabilities accumulation as well as to analyse the learning were mainly qualitative. This investigation joins other previous studies, in which there was noticed that the learning process have great involvement on technical changes, playing a relevant role on the technological capabilities of a company. Based on the investigation done and on the practical utilization of the analytical structure proposed by Figueiredo (2001), we infer that the way and the speed of technological capabilities accumulation are related to how the various learning processes were used by the company. One implied that, in levels from one to six, the studied company cumulated capabilities to level (5). Regarding technological competence, it approached industrialized countries firms, which present level (6), advanced.

Parker Morris and the Fordist House

6.00 pm. If people like watching T.V. while they are eating their evening meal, space for a low table is needed (Ministry of Housing and Local Government, Space in the Home, 1963, p. 4).

This paper re-examines the 1961 Parker Morris report on housing standards in Britain. It explores the origins, scope, text and iconography of the report and suggests that these not only express a particularly modernist conception of space but one which presupposed very specific economic conditions and geographies.

Also known as Homes for Today and Tomorrow Parker Morris attempted, through the application of scientific principles, to define the minimum living space standards needed to accommodate household activities. But while early modernist research into notions of existenzminimum were the work of avant-garde architects and thinkers, Homes for Today and Tomorrow and its sister design manual Space in the Home were commissioned by the British State. This normalization of scientific enquiry into space can be considered not only as a response to new conditions in the mass production of housing – economies of scale, prefabrication, system-building and modular coordination – but also to the post-war boom in consumer goods. In this, it is suggested that the domestic interior was assigned a key role as a privileged site of mass consumption as the production and micro-management of space in Britain became integral to the development of a planned national economy underpinned by Fordist principles. Parker Morris, therefore, sought to accommodate activities which were pre-determined not so much by traditional social or familial ties but rather by recently introduced commodities such as the television set, white goods, table tennis tables and train sets. This relationship between the domestic interior and the national economy are emblematized by the series of placeless and scale-less diagrams executed by Gordon Cullen in Space in the Home. Here, walls dissolve as space flows from inside to outside in a homogenized and ephemeral landscape whose limits are perhaps only the boundaries of the nation state and the circuits of capital.

In Britain, Parker Morris was the last explicit State-sponsored attempt to prescribe a normative spatial programme for national living. The calm neutral efficiency of family-life expressed in its diagrams was almost immediately problematised by the rise of 1960s counter-culture, the feminist movement and the oil crisis of 1972 which altered perhaps forever the spatial, temporal and economic conditions it had taken for granted. The debate on space-standards, however, continues.

Join The Moment Transitários, S.A: relatório de estágio no departamento de operações

Apresentado ao Instituto de Contabilidade e Administração do Porto para a obtenção do grau de Mestre em Empreendedorismo e Internacionalização, sob orientação da Doutora Maria Clara Pinto Ribeiro

The optimization of the complaints management system

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Management from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

Fjärrvärmedrivna vitvaror : Erfarenheter från utveckling, installationer och kostnadsberäkningar

Värmedrivna vitvaror eller HWC-maskiner som de kallas av tillverkaren värms med varmt vatten från en cirkulerande krets via en värmeväxlare inbyggd i maskinen, till skillnad från konventionella maskiner som värms med el. Denna teknik skall inte förväxlas med maskiner som är anslutna till varmvattenledningen och fylls på med varmt vatten och som därmed begränsas till disk- och tvätt. Syftet med fjärrvärmedrivna vitvaror är alltså att använda fjärrvärme, som har lägre kvalitet och pris än elenergi för uppvärmning och torkning och på så sätt spara el och utöka fjärrvärmeunderlaget. En jämförelse av koldioxidutsläpp och primärenergianvändning mellan konventionella vitvaror och fjärrvärmedrivna vitvaror visar att både koldioxidutsläpp och primärenergianvändning blir lägre för fjärrvärmedrivna vitvaror om biobränsle anses koldioxidneutralt och den el som ersätts är producerad i kolkraftverk eller gaskombikraftverk.   Denna rapport beskriver utveckling och kommersialisering av värmedrivna vitvaror (disk- och tvättmaskiner samt torktumlare och torkskåp) och hur de kan anslutas mot fjärrvärmesystem i olika systemlösningar. Dessutom har de energimässiga och ekonomiska förutsättningarna för tekniken undersökts. Erfarenheterna från fältprovning är dock mycket begränsade, eftersom de byggen där fälttesterna skulle ske försenades. Under 2013 färdigställs ett flerbostadshus med värmedrivna vitvaror i 160 lägenheter i Västerås.   De utvecklade maskinernas värmeanvändning som andel av total energianvändning vid 60 graders framledningstemperatur har uppmätts till ca 50 % för diskmaskinen, 67 % för tvättmaskinen, 80 % för torktumlaren och 93 % för torkskåpet. I det studerade flerbostadshuset av passivhusstandard uppgår lasten från värmedrivna vitvaror komfortgolvvärme och handdukstorkar till upp mot 30 % av husets totala värmeanvändning. För småhus är motsvarande siffra upp mot 20 %. Att använda fjärrvärme istället för elvärme till dessa installationer som normalt är elvärmda kan allts minska elbehovet betydligt i lågenergibebyggelse vilket också minskar både koldioxidutsläppen och primärenergianvändningen.   Ekonomiska analyser har genomförts för två olika systemkoncept (separat vitvarukrets och Västeråsmodellen) för nybyggda småhusområden och flerfamiljshus där fjärrvärme inte bara används till vitvaror utan också till handdukstorkar och komfortgolvvärme. De ekonomiska analyserna visar att Västeråsmodellen är den mest ekonomiskt intressanta systemlösningen med värmedrivna vitvaror, handdukstork och komfortgolvvärme. I flerfamiljshus kan den vara konkurrenskraftig mot de elvärmda alternativen (konventionellt system med eldrivna vitvaror, komfortgolvvärme och handdukstorkar) om prisskillnaden mellan el och fjärrvärme är större än 0,7 kr/kWh. En parameterstudie visar att kapitalkostnaden blir ganska hög jämfört med energikostnaden, vilket betyder att lång livslängd och många cykler är viktigt för att förbättra de ekonomiska förutsättningarna för värmedrivna vitvaror. För passiva småhus blir kostnaden för Västeråsmodellen med värmedrivna vitvaror, handdukstork och komfortgolvvärme likvärdig med de elvärmda alternativen vid energiprisskillnader på 0,7 kr/kWh inklusive moms, medan det krävs prisskillnader på 0,9 kr/kWh inklusive moms för normalisolerade småhusområden.   Sammanfattningsvis kan sägas att i kommuner med ett konkurrenskraftigt fjärrvärmepris finns det viss lönsamhet för hela konceptet enligt Västeråsmodellen med värmedrivna vitvaror, komfortgolvvärme, och handdukstorkar. Om man däremot ser på konkurrensen för enskilda vitvaror är det främst torktumlaren som är konkurrenskraftig i bostäder. Målpriset på 1000 kr extra för värmedrift har inte kunnat uppnås inom projektet för diskmaskiner och tvättmaskiner. Det krävs lägre priser och låga anslutningskostnader för att räkna hem diskmaskinen och tvättmaskinen som enskilda komponenter.   Värmedrivna tvättmaskiner och torktumlare är konkurrenskraftiga i flerfamiljstvättstugor. Speciellt i de fall där beläggningen är god och flera maskiner delar på anslutningskostnaden till fjärrvärmecentralen kan värmedrift bli riktigt lönsam. Torkskåpens konkurrenskraft har inte kunnat utvärderas, då priset ännu inte fastställts. Att använda VVC-systemet för värmedistribution till värmedrivna vitvaror kan vara mycket intressant, men det kräver att legionellaproblematiken kan lösas. I nuläget finns ingen lösning som uppfyller formuleringarna i boverkets byggregler. Ett annat distributionssätt som kan vara intressant, men som inte undersökts i studien är att använda VVC för varmvattendistribution och en gemensam radiator- och vitvarukrets med konstant framledningstemperatur. Den aktör som förväntas ha störst ekonomiskt intresse av att tekniken implementeras är sannolikt fjärrvärmebolagen som får sälja mer värme och det ligger därmed främst på deras ansvar att marknadsföra tekniken i mötet med sina kunder.

Operations strategy and supply chain management: A Brazilian case study

The objective of this study is to understand how an assembly company, that is considered a focal company in the chain of Brazilian white goods sector, can influence the supply chain management established with its first tier suppliers. This is an exploratory qualitative study in which the information was gathered through direct observations, documents' retention, and data from interviews held with management-level employees of the sales and product development areas of the focal company and of the production area of the suppliers' companies. This study indicates that the operations strategy of the focal company influences the supply chain management and that the common business processes shared by its suppliers are a way to verify the truth of such statement. The suppliers cooperate closely with the focal company when complementing their business processes and consequently supporting the company to pursue its operations strategy. A set of mechanisms to aid the comprehension of how the operations strategy can affect the business processes and therefore to achieve the result of this research were adopted. © EuroJournals Publishing, Inc. 2012.

Tributação do comércio eletrônico e integração regional

Pós-graduação em Direito - FCHS

Outcome of the agrarian reform in Brazil during the last two decades

The agrarian reform allows for land redistribution and gives rural workers the opportunity to develop their life projects, rescuing the dignity of a historically excluded population. The conquest of the land carries significances that span from the rescue of citizenship to the improvement of living conditions due to the acquisition of goods, products and services. It is pointed out that in Brazil there still exists a marked concentration of large-landed estates. In this sense, this work had the objective of analyzing the Brazilian agrarian reform process during the last two decades. In this period the country had three Presidents, two of them elected with the support of the Rural Landless Workers Movement, increasing the expectations in relation to the fulfillment of the agrarian reform. The advances in the policies of rural settlements are notable; however, the structure of large-land estates remains unaltered. In the last two years (2011 and 2012) the number of settled families, as well as the number of settlements accomplished, were the worst since 2006. The priority of the current government is the eradication of extreme poverty and, in this sense, the agrarian reform becomes an essential policy to contribute to such goal, since with the distribution of the property of the land also diminishes the concentration of wealth.

Redução de desperdícios no serviço de atendimento ao consumidor: estudo de caso do orçamento base zero em uma empresa de linha branca

The self-evaluation is increasingly necessary in a competitive environment, and a way for companies to self-evaluate is through your budget. Knowing the importance of this budgetary process, this study aimed to observe and analyze the developing process of a zero-based budgeting (ZBB) highlighting its best practices and difficulties and propose recommendations for other companies in general. This goal was achieved through a case study in an area responsible for the budgeting process in the customer services department from a white-goods company. Also was required to review the literature regarding the customer services area, waste reduction, cost management, budgets in general and the zero-based budgeting. After reviewing the literature and the study, we can highlight good practices and difficulties observed in the studied company, and also propose recommendations on how to develop a zero-based budget and evidence what plans, analyzes and justifications are essential in a good budget process execution

Novas tendências, o big data: deteção de fraudes e transações no comércio local: SAF-T com tecnologia big data

Dissertação apresentada à Escola Superior de Tecnologia do Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco para cumprimento dos requisitos necessários à obtenção do grau de Mestre em Desenvolvimento de Software e Sistemas Interactivos, realizada sob a orientação científica da categoria profissional do orientador Doutor Eurico Ribeiro Lopes, do Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco.

Marketing strategy and new product development in the UK credit card industry

The development of new products in today's marketing environment is generally accepted as a requirement for the continual growth and prosperity of organisations. The literature is consequently rich with information on the development of various aspects of good products. In the case of service industries, it can be argued that new service product development is of as least equal importance as it is to organisations that produce tangible goods products. Unlike the new goods product literature, the literature on service marketing practices, and in particular, new service product development, is relatively sparse. The main purpose of this thesis is to examine a number of aspects of new service product development practice with respect to financial services and specifically, credit card financial services. The empirical investigation utilises both a case study and a survey approach, to examine aspects of new service product development industry practice relating specifically to gaps and deficiencies in the literature with respect to the financial service industry. The findings of the empirical work are subsequently examined in the context in which they provide guidance and support for a new normative new service product development model. The study examines the UK credit card financial service product sector as an industry case study and perspective. The findings of the field work reveal that the new service product development process is still evolving, and that in the case of credit card financial services can be seen as a well-structured and well-documented process. New product development can also be seen as an incremental, complex, interactive and continuous process which has been applied in a variety of ways. A number of inferences are subsequently presented.

White spot syndrome virus (WSSV) transmission risk through infected cooked shrimp products assessed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and bio-inoculation studies

The aim of the study was to evaluate the resistance of white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) in shrimps (Penaeus monodon) to the process of cooking. The cooking was carried out at 1000C six different durations 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 min. The presence of WSSV was tested by single step and nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR). In the single step PCR, the primers 1s5 & 1a16 and IK1 & IK2 were used. While in the nested PCR, primers IK1 &IK2 – IK3 & IK4 were used for the detection of WSSV. WSSV was detected in the single step PCR with the primers 1s5 and 1a16 and the nested PCR with the primers IK1 and IK2 – IK3 & IK4 from the cooked shrimp samples. The cooked shrimps, which gave positive results for WSSV by PCR, were further confirmed for the viability of WSSV by conducting the bio-inoculation studies. Mortality (100%) was observed within 123 h of intra-muscular post injection (P.I) into the live healthy WSSV-free shrimps (P. monodon). These results show that the WSSV survive the cooking process and even infected cooked shrimp products may pose a transmission risk for WSSV to the native shrimp farming systems.