Abstract

TOLEDO, José Carlos de; LIZARELLI, Fabiane Letícia; BORRAS, Miguel Ángel Aires  and  MARTINS, Manoel Fernando. The use of statistics in large and medium-sized spare-parts manufacturing companies in São Paulo, Brazil. Innovar [online]. 2018, vol.28, n.70, pp.81-98. ISSN 0121-5051.  https://doi.org/10.15446/innovar.v28n70.74450.

The use of improvement approaches involves analysis and decision-making processes based on data and information analysis. This has a direct association with the use of Statistical Thinking and Statistical Tools. Therefore, this paper studies the use of statistical thinking and statistical tools, as well as the benefits perceived from their usage, in a sample of large and medium-sized companies in the manufacturing sector of spare-parts in São Paulo, Brazil. Companies belonging to this industry adopted improvement approaches long before other industrial sectors. Therefore, a mature environment for the use of concepts and statistical tools is expected from the adoption of such approaches. This empirical research was carried out through a web survey, obtaining a final sample of 32 companies. Quality, production or improvement managers of these companies were asked to answer a questionnaire. Results show that, despite the use of various improvement approaches, the studied companies have not fully incorporated statistical concepts and have difficulties using statistical tools, especially those considered as more complex. Multivariate analysis indicates that companies' behavior towards the use of both statistical thinking and tools is not homogeneous, and reveals groups of companies at different maturity levels in the use and perceived benefits.

Keywords : Perceived benefits; statistical tools; spare-parts industry; statistical thinking.

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