Implications of additive manufacturing on supply chain and logistics

Additive manufacturing (AM) technology has attracted the interest of industrial professionals and researchers in the last years. This interest lies primarily in understanding the trends, benefits, and implications of AM technology on supply chain (SC) and logistics, as it requires reconfiguring the supply chain based on a distributed manufacturing strategy, closer to the consumer market, with shorter lead times and less raw materials. It still is an emerging field, and needs further study. Therefore, a better understanding of main trends will contribute to the dissemination of knowledge about AM technology and its consolidation. This article seeks to investigate the implications of AM, as an advanced manufacturing model, on SC and logistics. A four-step research method was used to develop a systematic literature review and a bibliometric analysis on the AM implications in SC and logistics. The main implications of AM on SC and logistics were classified in seven key issues gathered as result of the literature review. Additionally, bibliometric study allowed understanding researches major trends in this field. The key aspects highlighted and characterized as major implications of AM on SC and logistic are: supply chain complexity reduction; more flexible logistics and inventory management; better spreading and popularization of mass customization; decentralization of manufacturing; greater design freedom and rapid prototyping; increasing of resource efficiency and sustainability, and the need to have clearly defined legal and safety aspects

Estudo das estratégias sob a perspectiva da sustentabilidade corporativa

This study aimed to identify the prevailing thoughts in Brazilian cosmetics companies regarding sustainability that brought higher level of complexity to the business environment. Hence, we applied a questionnaire in companies of this industry, obtaining a sample with 102 respondents. The results of this study indicate that companies in the cosmetic industry claim to have knowledge of the concepts of sustainability, and this is seen as a possibility for improving operational efficiency and competitive advantage. Most companies have sustainability linked to marketing or commercial areas, which may signal a greenwashing practice. Most companies believe that sustainability is sometimes important, and there is at least some investment in this agenda. Sustainability is sometimes strategically important for competitiveness and has changed companies’ “way of doing business”, since there are signs that there exists an integration of operational strategies with concepts of sustainability

Um estudo sobre a cultura organizacional no setor de cosmético brasileiro

The concept of culture can be defined as the way in which things are done in a particular environment, ranging from a house, even a country, through the various actors involved in relationships. To address the issue in companies, there is the so-called organizational culture. In organizations culture is influenced by issues such as power, hierarchy and conservatism. The research presents the results of the assessment of organizational culture in the Brazilian cosmetic industry, through the analysis of segmentation and matching. The analyzes show that the overall profile of culture in these companies is hard, with influence based on position, prioritization of individual aspects, and traditionally masculine values. The correspondence analysis showed that British companies and with possession of more than 500 employees are associated with those, more flexibility in the culture, not the existence of different privileges to different levels, the prioritization of the group over the individual, employee access to directors is common, and not the presence of divisions of roles linked to gender. Chinese and Japanese national companies are associated with companies with clear division of roles between men and women and companies with no analytical thinking.O conceito de cultura pode ser definido como o jeito no qual as coisas são realizadas em determinado ambiente, que vai desde uma casa, até um país, e passa pelos diversos agentes envolvidos nas relações. Para se tratar da questão nas empresas, existe a chamada cultura organizacional. Nas organizações a cultura é influenciada por questões como o poder, a hierarquia e o conservadorismo. A pesquisa apresenta os resultados da avaliação da cultura organizacional no setor de cosmético brasileiro, por meio da análise de segmentação e de correspondência. As análises mostram que o perfil geral da cultura nessas empresas é rígido, e há influência baseada no cargo, priorização dos aspectos individuais, e valores tradicionalmente masculinos. A análise de correspondência mostrou que empresas inglesas e com mais de 500 funcionários apresentam associação com aquelas de maior flexibilidade na cultura, não existência de privilégios diferenciados para níveis distintos, a priorização do grupo em detrimento do individual, acesso dos funcionários aos diretores é comum, e a não presença de divisões de papéis ligados ao gênero. Empresas de nacionalidade chinesa e japonesa associam-se a empresas com divisão clara dos papéis entre homens e mulheres e empresas com ausência de pensamento analítico

Análise da eficiência operacional de uma linha de produção da indústria de laticínios por meio do indicador de Eficiência Global de Equipamentos (Overall Equipment Effectiveness)

Companies constantly operate under pressure to produce more and faster with fewer resources. Managing factories, in this scenario, requires quantitative information on production to enable effective decision-making. In this study, we measured indexes concerning the bottleneck process of the production line of a large dairy company in order to support decisions regarding its main products. The Overall Equipment Effectiveness values were measured for the machine in the bottleneck process, as well as for each of the four products in the production line, enabling comparisons between them. Pareto charts and analyses of the weight variation of the products were also elaborated for a complete evaluation of the process. The data were collected through observations that enabled a better understanding of the process and raised suggestions for improvements in the production line for future studies. With the data and information collected, it was possible to build an action plan for each product in order to increase process efficiency