Análise de oportunidades de redução de Wrench Time na manutenção de uma usina de sementes

Abstract

As one of the key sectors responsible for ensuring production in the industrial context, maintenance plays a crucial role in driving operational efficiency and continuous improvement. This study focuses on the Maintenance area of a seed processing plant and was motivated by an internal audit aimed at assessing the quality of maintenance processes, particularly regarding the Utilization indicator and the way inspection activities on sheller machines were recorded in maintenance orders (MO). The core concept investigated was value-added work, defined in this context as the time effectively spent on the technical execution of maintenance tasks – known as wrench time. This is an applied case study with both qualitative and quantitative approaches and exploratory objectives, structured using the A3 Report methodology to organize data and propose improvements. A comparative analysis between the planned inspection time in MO – previously set at 2 hours – and the actual time observed in nine monitored inspections – which averaged 1h08min – revealed a wrench time of 49,05 %. These findings raised concerns about the reliability of the Utilization indicator and pointed to clear evidence of time waste. As proposed, making the process more consistent with actual shop floor practices. Additional improvement actions are suggested at the end of the study, which, if implemented, may enhance the team’s awareness of value-added work and reduce non-productive time during inspection processes, thereby promoting a mote efficient and sustainable operation.