This paper aims at conducting an analysis the competences of production engineering graduates, building on an industry view. To this end, we conducted a survey addressing 103 medium and large companies within the Brazilian manufacturing industry. The results suggest that companies do recognize the importance of competences. Some gaps in the competences of graduates were also pointed out by respondents. This study suggests the need for the development of efforts for providing the production engineer with a better professional background. The links between university and industry are likely to contribute towards such direction, notably as a starting point for institutions and industries to foster their student's competences, aiming their aptitude for an ever-competitive job market, which values the flexible, creative being, who is capable of creating innovative solutions.
Background: This study aimed to identify the most widespread performance objectives for the vehicle routing problem, the degree of comparative importance attributed to each of these performance objectives in the opinion of professionals in the logistics area working in Brazil and also relate them to aspects of sustainability considering environmental, economic and social issues. Methods: To this end, a literature review was carried out in the area and a survey was developed with professionals through a structured questionnaire. The collected data were treated using the TOPSIS multi-criteria technique. Results: The results indicate that the performance objectives in route plans “level of service”, “total number of vehicles” and “total distance travelled” are the ones that, in the opinion of the professionals participating in the research, have greater importance in the planning and elaboration of plan routes and that such objectives directly impact the sustainable results of a given organization. Conclusions: The results can serve as a basis for researchers in the area who aim to broaden the debates on this topic and for logistics operations managers who work directly with planning and elaboration of route plans and who aim to make their operations more sustainable. Therefore, this research addresses the literature gap by identifying which performance objectives should be considered in the elaboration of route plans and how they relate to sustainability guidelines. It is noteworthy that no other study with a similar objective was identified in the literature.
PurposeRecently, several areas are successfully applying the Lean Six Sigma methodology, specifically in healthcare, public services, higher education institutions and manufacturing industries. This study aims to present an extensive literature review involving Lean Six Sigma practical applications in the last five years, described in a case studies format.Design/methodology/approachA systematic literature review was conducted, and 39 articles were selected and analyzed.FindingsAn increase in Lean Six Sigma applications in healthcare and higher education institutions was identified. Furthermore, Lean Six Sigma is effectively applied in several areas and is continuously used in traditional industries. The main critical success factor identified was leadership and management involvement, project management and organizational infrastructure, as well as training and education. Also, the main difficulties found are related to the organization's culture and developing communication with leaders and managers.Research limitations/implicationsThe main difficulties found in this research are related to the lack of data presented in some articles analyzed, where only information about how the Lean Six Sigma application was conducted is shown, not mentioning difficulties or success factors identified.Originality/valueCase studies are fundamental to help popularize Lean Six Sigma applications, showing a real-life scenario of how the methodology is implemented, the main difficulties encountered and critical success factors found. Thus, the value of this study is promoting and developing research involving Lean Six Sigma case study applications to guide new researchers and practitioners on the subject.
Due to high competition of the agriculture machines sector, the auto parts suppliers are investing in research to promote the development and reduce the costs of the products, passing these results to their clients who are the automakers. It was identified the need to redesign the regulation sieve system harvester, which is a compound assembly in the harvester's grain cleaning system, with the objective to reduce the costs and improve the ergonomic aspect, keeping the same efficiency from the original project. The improvement was developed by studying the original design and identifying possible project fails, such as components and manufacturing process which could be eliminated. For this, it was needed to do a research about rules and project considerations that must be applied in the products development and ergonomic too, specifically about geometric forms and anthropometric measures. From the redesign of this system, it is verified that it is possible by a study to identify possible improvements, and to develop a new system by a simple project, improving the ergonomic, reducing the cost and keeping the same efficacy from the original project.
The increase in the number of students evaded has alerted different segments of society and the public sector to the need to update the guidelines of engineering courses as well as innovation in teaching engineering. In this sense, the objective is to report on the challenges of engineering education in Brazil and the methodological strategies that have been adopted for the modernization of the curricula of engineering courses and consequent reduction of the indicators of avoidance and withdrawal. In addition, involving the use of the 43 academic academics of the University of Cruz Alta (Unicruz) who studied the discipline of Research Methodology in the second semester of 2017 through the Problem Based Learning (PBL) strategy as an innovative strategy education. Finally, in addition to the production of a technical material produced throughout the course, it was observed that there were only 2 students in 1 failed exam, demonstrating that teaching by PBL has high effectiveness for academic achievement in the discipline of research methodology.
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