Sinergias e entropias existentes entre os sistemas lean e green

Abstract

The production process became dependent of the machines after the Industrial Revolution. The goal was to produce more in a shorter time, leading to an excessive increase in solid waste being discarded in the environment. After World War II, Japan came up with the lean manufacturing philosophy, which the goals are lower inventories, reduce failures and eliminate waste. With the rise of environmental consciousness after 1950, it began the concern about green management. From the 1990s, the interest in analyzing the relationship between the lean and green systems grew. In general, this work seeks to investigate, in a company of the automobile industry, whether lean can be considered green. To this end, following the literature concerning about the proposed topic, a research was done in a company of the automotive industry. The research was conducted in a company of the automotive industry located in Santo Antonio da Platina, Paraná, Brazil. Interviews and research that provided the basis for completing a questionnaire were developed, so that it was possible to analyze the actual situation of the company in relation to lean and green practices. It was verified that the management of suppliers - a lean tool - reacts synergistically with the choice of suppliers - a green tool. It was also possible to observe that the reduction of failures, errors and waste proposed by lean has synergy with the reduction of pollution and 3R proposed by green. On the other hand, lean shows a lack of concern about environmental impacts at the end of the product life, which reacts entropically with life-cycle analysis and 3R proposed by green.