Aplicação da metodologia DMAIC na recuperação de uma cerveja pilsen congelada

Abstract

According to Brazilian law, beer is defined as a beverage made from the alcoholic fermentation of wort, which is made up of malt, water and hops. Over the last three years, investments in this sector have totaled R$4.3 billion, fostering job creation and impacting the economy. Despite this success, it is believed that the economic return could be even greater if some setbacks in industrial processes could be minimized or, preferably, avoided. Nonconformities in industrial processes, especially multi-stage processes, are common, and one of the strategies to solve them is to adopt quality methodologies that assist employees in their responsibilities. The objective of this study was to use the process improvement methodology, the DMAIC cycle, to evaluate the freezing of a specific batch of Pilsen beer during the maturation stage. To this end, five stages were adopted, with the first defining the central problem and the intended goals, observing the production history of the specific batch and distributing the functions to the responsible parties. In the second stage, all indicators that could provide an answer as to what action to take were measured and then all variables were analyzed with the help of other quality tools. After implementing DMAIC, it was decided to recover the batch, setting up three operations to defrost, extract aroma and flavor from the hops (dry hopping) and carbonate. At the end of the operation, a 95% saving was achieved for the factory compared to the process of producing a new batch, while maintaining the physical and chemical characteristics inherent to a Pilsen beer that meets all quality requirements. Finally, in the last stage, a standard procedure was created for employees and new employees to be prepared to act in the event of a similar non-conformity in the future. After implementing the methodology, it was concluded that knowledge of agile quality methodologies together with knowledge of unitary and energy operations in chemical engineering made it possible to avoid wasting the non-conforming Pilsen beer batch.