Metodologia para diagnosticar problemas e necessidades da área produtiva e sua aplicação em pequenas e médias fundições e fabricantes de calçados.

Abstract

Companies need to know their environment, their strengths and their weaknesses in relation to competitors, so that they get benefits, consolidating themselves in this environment. In great companies, there are best conditions to perform self-knowledge studies and market studies internally, or still hiring agencies which make such studies. This is more difficult to happen in small or medium companies. In that way, studies with the purpose of producing a diagnosis for a company or for an industrial segment become important, mainly for small or medium companies, not only for the involved companies, but also for the scientific community, that can focus their research efforts in subjects that are of interest for the companies as for the scientific community. The objectives of this dissertation are to propose a methodology for diagnosing problems and needs in the productive area of small-medium sized industrial companies and its application in two different industrial segments: make-to-order foundries of the interior of São Paulo state and footwear manufacturers of Birigui-SP. The methodology consists in a survey (evaluation research), using questionnaires and interviews. The survey and the use of the inductive method of research make possible a visualization of the situation faced by the industrial segment in study. The application of the proposed methodology was able to show many production characteristics of the segments: make-to-order foundries of the interior of São Paulo state and footwear manufacturers of Birigui-SP.