LEAN PRODUCTION ASSESSMENT IN A SUGARCANE AGRIBUSINESS: A CASE STUDY IN BRAZIL

Abstract

The Brazilian sugarcane agribusiness has emerged as one of the main drivers of the economy; mainly stand out in global scenario as a major producer and exporter of sugar. To make this segment even more competitive it is also necessary to look for constant improvements in its production system. Over the past four decades, Lean Production has been recognized as a management model in efficiency and competitiveness when it comes to the use of a systematic approach and focused on waste elimination. In this scenario this article aims to evaluate the use of philosophy, techniques and tools of Lean Production System in a sugarcane agribusiness in State of Sao Paulo. A research roadmap developed from the 14 principles of Liker for the implementation of Lean Production was used to conduct an interview, as well as on site visit and observation in order to perform a data triangulation. Within the search results is identified that the organization has a satisfactory performance on Lean principles, especially the support given by the technical and applied tools, which support the processes and problem solving categories.