Importance of the cost, quality, flexibility, innovation, time and reliability dimensions for the current competitiveness of the Brazilian naval sector

Abstract

The research assesses the cost, quality, flexibility, innovation, time and reliability dimensions of Brazil's naval industry at present, using as its analytical reference the model of Slack (1993), based on the Sand Cone model put forth by Ferdows and De Meyer (1990), and also on the Phases model proposed by Bolwijn and Kumpe (1990). The study evaluates which dimensions are the most critical for the competitiveness of each segment. The naval sector was characterized in this study by shipyards of the following segments: naval construction, nautical construction, platform construction and naval repairs. The method used in this study was in loco qualitative interviews with businesspersons, presidents, directors and managers of 31 shipyards active in Brazil's naval sector. The results were analyzed through perceptual maps of the dimensions by naval segment that characterize the priorities for the improvement of the competitiveness of this industry in Brazil. Thus, it was possible to estimate whether the models proposed in the literature apply to the evaluation of the phases of the dimensions of Brazil's naval sector in relation to production systems for major projects and intermittent production, which are intrinsic features of the industry researched in this study, and in relation to defining the importance ascribed to each dimension, by segment. Nothing was found in the domestic and the international literature (following the bibliographic review that was conducted) about the application of these models to the analysis of the dimensions in the shipyards specifically, where production is characterized, overall, by products of high financial value and a long production period, as compared to products with different production systems, such as those of the automotive, electrical, electronic, or IT industries, for example.