It is important for organizations to understand the factors responsible for establishing sustainable continuous improvement (CI) capabilities. This study uses learning curves as the basis to examine learning obtained by team members doing work with and without the application of fundamental aspects of the Toyota Production System. The results are used to develop an effective model to guide organizational activities towards achieving the ability to continuous improve in a sustainable fashion. This research examines the effect of standardization and waste elimination activities supported by systematic problem solving on team member learning at the work interface and system performance. The results indicate the application of Standard Work principles and elimination of formally defined waste using the systematic 8-step problem solving process positively impacts team member learning and performance, providing the foundation for continuous improvement Compared to their untreated counterparts, treated teams exhibited increased, more uniformly distributed, and more sustained learning rates as well as improved productivity as defined by decreased total throughput time and wait time. This was accompanied by reduced defect rates and a significant decrease in mental and physical team member burden. A major outcome of this research has been the creation of a predictive probability model to guide sustainable CI development using a simplified assessment tool aimed at identifying essential organizational states required to support sustainable CI development.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:51:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 4809.pdf: 1977399 bytes, checksum: 2da34c0f770d1a13eee03a5663bb0ca2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-11-09 / In recent years the possibility of incorporating the process of Learning Organizational (LO) during the life cycle of projects has been drawing the attention of scholars. However, there are few studies that analyze the subject in a practical and deeper way. The traditional studies try to consider and discuss the learning after the project more accurately due to its wide use in the business world. Nevertheless, the learning process may also occur during the projects when stimulated by mechanisms that systematize the externalization of knowledge and by means that encourage the sharing and the transference of them between projects team. Structured by means of a research action, this dissertation collaborate with the expansion of the knowledge about the subject investigating and improving actions that promote the practice of learning organizational during the development of projects in a medium-sized Consulting Engineering company from the civil construction sector located in the metropolitan region of São Paulo. The actions are guided aiming to promote the transference of explicit knowledge (technical documents and reports), the reuse of the learning from their own experiences and past history (tacit knowledge) and the systematic problem solving. The implemented actions were incorporated in the procedures of the Quality Management System of the Company and, from trainings, observations and informal and formal evaluations (internal and external audits) it was possible to point opportunities of improvements to reinforce the process of organizational learning during the development of projects. The research revealed that the transference of knowledge generated in documents, reports and technical studies to other projects is not effective in organizational level, being a lot more employed among the project coordinators with more length of service that know a larger number of projects performed or ongoing. In the other hand, despite the tacit experiences developed by the people (own experiences), the learning occurs when the coordinator of a project compulsorily identifies and registers in a Project Execution Plan (PEP) the similar developed or developing contracts in the company, interrelating them with the people involved in these contracts. Following the process, the plan is disclosed to the team members of this coordinator, which consult those people. The generation of knowledge provided by the dynamic of systematic problem solving appears as incipient because, in the consulting engineering, a lot of factors hinder the capture of this knowledge in the form of register for later reuse. Among these factors it is possible to mention: difficulty in determining the categories of problems that comprehend all the projects, imposition of the clients not to generate registers, hesitancy of the project coordinators to externalize the problems of the projects and, as a result, their reputations. / Nos últimos anos a possibilidade de incorporação do processo de Aprendizagem Organizacional (AO) durante o ciclo de vida de projetos (project) tem chamado a atenção de estudiosos. No entanto, têm-se poucos estudos que analisam o tema de maneira prática e mais profunda. Os estudos tradicionais tendem a considerar e discutir o aprendizado após o projeto com mais propriedade devido ao seu amplo emprego no mundo empresarial. Entretanto, o processo de aprendizagem pode ocorrer também durante os projetos quando estimulados por mecanismos que sistematizem a externalização de conhecimentos e por meios que favoreçam o compartilhamento e a transferência destes entre equipes de projetos. Estruturada por meio de uma pesquisa-ação, esta dissertação colabora com a expansão do conhecimento sobre o tema investigando e aprimorando ações que promovam a prática da aprendizagem organizacional durante o desenvolvimento de projetos em uma empresa de Engenharia Consultiva do setor da construção civil, de médio porte e localizada na região metropolitana de São Paulo. As ações são pautadas no intuito de promover a transferência de conhecimentos explícitos (documentos e relatórios técnicos), o reaproveitamento das próprias experiências vivenciadas (conhecimento tácito) e a resolução sistemática de problemas. As ações implementadas foram incorporadas em procedimentos do Sistema de Gestão da Qualidade da Empresa e, a partir de treinamentos, observações e avaliações informais e formais (auditorias internas e externas) foi possível apontar oportunidades de melhorias para reforçar o processo de aprendizagem organizacional durante o desenvolvimento dos projetos. A pesquisa revelou que a transferência de conhecimento gerado em documentos, relatórios e estudos técnicos para outros projetos não é efetiva em nível organizacional, sendo mais bem praticada entre os coordenadores de projetos com mais tempo de casa e que conhecem maior número de projetos realizados ou em andamento. Por outro lado, a despeito das experiências tácitas desenvolvidas pelas pessoas (próprias experiências), o aprendizado ocorre quando o coordenador de um projeto obrigatoriamente identifica e registra em um Plano de Execução do Projeto (PEP) os contratos similares desenvolvidos ou em desenvolvimento na empresa, inter-relacionando-os com as pessoas envolvidas nestes contratos. Na sequência, o plano é divulgado para os membros da equipe deste coordenador, os quais consultam aquelas pessoas. A geração de conhecimentos proporcionada pela dinâmica de resolução sistemática de problemas apresenta-se como incipiente, pois, na engenharia consultiva, são muitos os fatores que dificultam a captura destes conhecimentos em forma de registros para posterior reuso. Entre esses fatores pode-se citar: dificuldade em delinear as categorias de problemas que abranjam todos os projetos, imposição dos clientes para a não geração de registros, receio dos coordenadores de projetos em externalizar os problemas dos projetos e, por consequência, suas reputações.

The aim of the diploma´s thesis is analysis of the scrap of the chosen process, using the tools of statistical process control and proposal of appropriate containment to reduce the scrap. The thesis describes all seven basic tools of quality and the greatest attention is aimed to Shewart's control charts. One chapter discusses three methods of problem solving in technical practice, while one of the described methods is used in the practical part of the thesis.