SIMULATION OF EFFICIENCY IN AVAILABILITY FOR DIFFERENT SUGARCANE (Saccharum spp.) TRANSPORT EQUIPMENT

ABSTRACT Brazil is the world’s largest sugarcane producer destined for mills producing alcohol, sugar, and electricity cogeneration. Sugarcane transport to the mills is carried out by trucks with trailers and tractors with semi-trailers, which transport the raw material harvested in the field to the mill. The modal road system of sugarcane transport uses this equipment to meet the continuous demand of the harveste draw material, with punctuality in the transport execution and generating a minimum cost. This study aimed to analyze the influence of availability efficiency on the operational and economic performance of different sugarcane transport equipment. A computational model called TransporteCana was developed in a spreadsheet due to the difficulty in meeting the objective under field conditions. The model was checked for possible routine errors, validated, and used in the analysis of variables and generation of results. The results showed that increasing availability efficiency reduces the operational cost of producing the equipment. Large managerial investments for the means of execution are required for high availability efficiencies

Economic analysis for sizing of sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) mechanized harvesting

Sugarcane has a significant role on Brazilian agribusiness economy. The harvesting cane is considered as one of the most important operations of the process for it has to attend the raw material demanded by the sugar mill in quality and a competitive cost. The objective of this work it is it of analyzing, of systemic way, the variables influence on economical and operational performance in sugarcane mechanized harvesting process for sizing of machines. For this purpose a model called ColheCana, was developed in a spreadsheet and in a programming language. The results showed that the field efficiency and harvester´s initial value are variables of great impact in the cost and that there is a maximum area that one equipment can attend and for this area the cost is minimum.A cultura da cana-de-açúcar tem significativa participação na economia do agronegócio brasileiro. A colheita de cana é considerada como uma das operações mais importantes, pois deve atender à demanda de matéria-prima requerida pela Usina com qualidade e custo competitivo. O objetivo deste trabalho foi analisar, de modo sistêmico, a influência das variáveis no desempenho operacional e econômico do processo de colheita mecanizada da cana-de-açúcar para o dimensionamento das máquinas. Para tanto, foi desenvolvido um modelo, denominado de ColheCana, em planilha eletrônica e em linguagem de programação. Os resultados evidenciaram que a eficiência de campo e o valor inicial das colhedoras são variáveis de grande impacto no custo e que existe uma área máxima a que um equipamento pode atender para a qual o custo é mínimo.Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES