A melhoria contínua nos sistemas de produção: uma revisão das ferramentas e desafios de implementação

Abstract

Continuous Improvement has been one of the most widely used methodologies within production systems in order to gain a competitive advantage in the market, reducing costs, improving processes and transforming company culture. One of the main challenges to the implementation of Continuous Improvement is the lack of leadership commitment to this methodology. Due to the potential use of this tool in organizations and the relevant role of the Chemical Engineer as a possible implementation leader, this paper seeks, through a literature review, to gather and disseminate knowledge about Continuous Improvement, its tools and approaches, as well as providing case studies of the application of tools and a view of the main factors that hinder the implementation of Continuous Improvement in organizations. This paper presents an overview of the origin, definition and evolution of Continuous Improvement, as well as the maturity levels used to classify organizations seeking to implement this methodology in their production systems. From the literature review, it was inferred that Continuous Improvement is equipped with various tools and approaches that can fit into different types of processes and problems, always seeking to reduce waste and increase efficiency. Some of these tools were defined and exemplified, such as PDCA, DMAIC, Visual Management, VSM and Ishikawa Diagram. In addition, in order to understand two of the main production systems, the Toyota Production System and the World Class Manufacturing System are presented in general terms and how Continuous Improvement is present within their processes and pillars. Finally, from the material gathered and presented in this work, it is understood that for future research, there is the possibility of carrying out case studies using any of the tools or approaches of Continuous Improvement and possible countermeasures to the main factors that trigger the difficulty of implementing Continuous Improvement can be studied.