The effect of collaboration and IT competency on reverse logistics competency - Evidence from Brazilian supply chain executives

Business models have being designed, worldwide, to create sustainability competencies and in particular to incorporate reverse logistics, but Brazilian executives have not yet fully adhered to Law 12,305 on solid waste and reverse logistics. What would be the Brazilian executives' perception about reverse logistics competency and the support provided by a collaborative and IT competency? The objective of the paper is to investigate the effects of collaboration and IT competency in developing reverse logistics competency, as a strategy, and its consequences in economic and environmental performance. A survey was performed with 320 Brazilian supply chain executives and analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling. The models demonstrated that collaboration has a direct positive influence on the development of reverse logistics competency, by executives' point of view. The moderation effect between collaboration and IT competency for reverse logistics was not confirmed, since it was adopted a strategic view of reverse logistics. Therefore, despite there was not a moderation effect, IT presented a lower direct effect on reverse logistics competency. Results reinforce that organizations that develop reverse logistics competency tend to improve their economic and environmental performances.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Energy crisis in Brazil: Impact of hydropower reservoir level on the river flow

Water management strategies can have considerable impacts on the regional climate and hydrology. It is usually the case that the construction and operation of hydropower reduce the river flow downstream due to the increase in evaporation. However, this paper shows that in humid regions, such as in Brazil, the hydropower storage reservoirs contribute to increase the flow of the river. This observation has been tested with historical reservoir levels and river flow data from several dams in Brazil. It was found that the operation of reservoirs in Brazil has a considerable impact on its river flows. The higher the storage level at the beginning of the humid period, the higher the river flow during the wet period. The paper proposes strategies to allow the reservoirs to fill up and to maintain the reservoirs filled in the future, with the intention of increasing hydropower generation and reducing the intermittency of other renewable energy sources

Definição do prazo de garantia de um produto otimizado experimentalmente Definition of the warranty period of an experimentally optimized product

Este artigo documenta os resultados da aplicação de um método para otimização de aspectos da qualidade e vida útil para posterior definição do prazo de garantia de produtos que não falham, mas degradam até uma condição considerada aceitável. O método de otimização é composto pelas seguintes etapas: i) caracterização do problema; ii) planejamento e execução dos experimentos; iii) modelagem das variáveis de resposta; iv) otimização; e v) modelagem da vida útil e definição do prazo de garantia. As etapas metodológicas contemplam o uso de QFD (Desdobramento da Função Qualidade), de Projeto de Experimentos, modelos de regressão de ensaios acelerados e modelos de degradação. Para a otimização e determinação do prazo de garantia, é apresentado um procedimento que utiliza uma seqüência de passos em que ferramentas estatísticas, como análise de regressão e modelagem de dados de degradação, são empregadas. Somado a isso, são utilizados procedimentos de avaliação sensorial para avaliar os níveis de degradação das amostras do produto. O método é aplicado em um produto utilizado na criação de animais.<br>This paper discusses the results of the application of a method to optimize the quality characteristics and service life of products that degrade rather than fail in order to determine the warranty period of such products. The optimization method consists of the following steps: i) characterization of the problem; ii) planning and execution of experiments; iii) modeling of response variables; iv) optimization; and v) modeling of the product's service life and definition of its warranty period. The method involves the joint use of QFD (Quality Function Deployment), Experimental Design, and modeling of accelerated degradation tests through regression analysis. A new procedure is presented to determine and optimize the warranty period of products subject to degradation, based on the sensorial analysis of sample products to assess their level of degradation. The method is illustrated by a case study of the plastics industry, where the goal is to come up with a suitable warranty policy for plastic floor tiles in pigpens

Relação entre características empresariais e fatores da transferência de conhecimentos entre projetos de produto The relationship between company characteristics and influence factors of the inter-product project knowledge transfer

Este artigo apresenta uma análise das relações existentes entre as características das empresas e a importância que estas atribuem aos fatores que influenciam na transferência de conhecimentos (TC) entre projetos de produtos. A análise é baseada num levantamento (survey) realizado com 58 empresas no Brasil. As características estudadas foram: (i) tamanho da empresa; (ii) tamanho da equipe de projetos; (iii) localização das equipes; (iv) número de projetos simultâneos; (v) tempo de duração dos projetos; (vi) grau de inovação; e (vii) complexidade dos projetos. Através de uma análise de aglomerados, foi identificado que as características (ii), (iv) e (vii) são significativas na determinação das importâncias atribuídas aos fatores da TC. Os resultados apontam que as empresas que possuem um perfil de gestão mais complexo enfatizam os fatores de influência pertencentes ao ambiente externo. Já empresas com um perfil de gestão mais simples atribuem maior importância aos fatores internos da empresa.<br>This paper presents an analysis of the relationship between company characteristics and the importance that companies attribute to the main factors that have influence on inter-product project knowledge transfer (KT). The analysis was based on a survey carried out on a sample of 58 companies that operate in Brazil. The studied characteristics of the companies were: (i) company size; (ii) project team size; (iii) team localization; (iv) number of concurrent projects; (v) project duration; (vi) project innovation and (vii) project complexity. It was possible to identify, using a cluster analysis, that project team size; number of concurrent projects and project complexity are statistically significant regarding the determination of attributed importance for the KT influence factors. The results revealed that companies that have a more complex management profile are more interested in influence factors of the external environment. On the other hand, companies that have a simpler management profile are more interested in influence factors of the internal environment