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Crisis an Opportunity to Rethink Processes and Leverage the Country\'s Productivity

Over the past two decades, Brazil has experienced very modest growth in industry productivity. The country has been unable to maintain the evolution registered in the 1990s. Despite a range of external factors interfering in industry performance, there are challenges that must be overcome within companies. How to do so was the topic of debate at the third panel of the first day of the National Meeting of Industry (ENAI).

At the open of the session \'Productivity: solutions within the reach of industry\', Vijay Gosula, managing partner of McKinsey Brasil, presented an analysis of the country\'s efficiency trajectory. According to him, the profile of industry chosen here is one of low productivity, though now is the time to rethink this strategy. \"I am convinced that the crisis is an opportunity to rethink products, processes and to learn lessons to become more productive and ensure healthier companies\", he said.

Marcelo Marx, general director of Delta Frio, based in Rio Grande do Sul, commented on the company\'s experience at Indústria+Produtiva, the program conceived by the National Confederation of Industry (CNI) and executed in partnership with the National Service for Industrial Training (SENAI ). According to Marx, the initiative has helped to identify and resolve bottlenecks in production at a low cost and in relatively short period of time. \"The project led us to take a closer look and we found other bottlenecks. It truly is a process of continued improvement and this can be a reality for small and medium-sized companies\", stated the executive.

Successful initiatives like this show the need to make the quest for productivity the subject of public policy. \"There really are gaps in public policies aimed at productivity. We need to go beyond a mere increase in the company\'s productivity and make production chains effective\", affirmed Marcos Otávio Bezerra Prates, director of the Department of Intensive Industries and Labor and Natural Resources, part of the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade (MDIC). 

It is common practice among large companies to develop continued improvement programs in an effort to increase efficiency as much as possible, though the subject must be on the agenda and in the planning of smaller enterprises, too. The technical director of the Brazilian Service for Support to Micro and Small Companies (Sebrae), Heloísa Menezes, cited some of the institution\'s initiatives to work on the productivity of companies and productive links, but also highlighted the importance of improving business management. \"This is when far more apparent gains are made. There are companies that have attained gains in productivity of up to 25% thanks to improved management. But there comes a time when management actions need to be reviewed. It\'s a form of permanent learning that must become part of the daily routine\", she reiterated.

*Piece take from the CNI website.