Aplicação da ferramenta Kaizen na redução dos tempos de setup em uma indústria farmacêutica

Abstract

Currently, the competitive market scenario drives companies and organizations to focus their efforts on improving their processes, as any type of gain and reduction in time and cost positions them favorably in relation to consumers. Lean production not only enhances internal efficiency but also strengthens companies that need to establish or consolidate themselves in increasingly dynamic markets. To achieve this, continuous improvement becomes a key ally, considering the importance of organizational culture change to enable the implementation of these improvements through the application of tools and methodologies like Kaizen, positioning the company ahead in terms of excellence, quality, cost reduction, and process optimization. The Kaizen philosophy, commonly referred to as continuous improvement, aims to continuously enhance and improve processes, products, or services within an organization. In this context, the main objective of this work is to exemplify how the application of the Kaizen methodology can contribute to reducing setup times on a production line in the pharmaceutical industry in Paraná, thereby increasing production availability and generating benefits for the company. For this purpose, the action research method was employed, and the implementation of the Kaizen methodology improved operational results. From the obtained results, a reduction of more than 30% in the total time of each setup “D” and “E” was observed. For this industry, these setups refer to more complex processes that require tool changes between batches. Additionally, the gains were not limited to availability times but also extended to their potential conversion into production, resulting in a financial absorption of R$ 234,000.00. This absorption was projected based on the particularities of the operational line under study.