Implementação do ciclo PDCA na gestão de manutenção de uma indústria alimentícia visando reduzir a indisponibilidade e perdas de produção

Abstract

With the increasing competitiveness among industries in a globalized environment, there is a need to reduce costs and waste. The objective of this study was to implement the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) continuous improvement cycle in the maintenance management of a department in the food industry, aiming to reduce equipment downtime and production losses. To achieve this, the study involved the implementation of the PDCA continuous improvement cycle, using quality methods and tools in its stages, such as goal setting, stratification using Pareto diagrams, cause-and-effect diagrams, action plans, and maintenance indicators analysis. During the planning stage of the cycle, goals were set to reduce equipment downtime and production losses, and chronic problems in the production lines were identified through Pareto stratification. Additionally, systemic and strategic actions were defined to eliminate recurring failures. As a result, maintenance-related downtime in the department was reduced by 54.8%, and production losses were reduced by 50.1%. Therefore, the application of the PDCA cycle in maintenance management brought benefits to the analyzed company by reducing costs associated with lost profits due to chronic equipment breakdowns, and it can be continuously applied to further results improvement.