Reduction of samples chemical analysis time at a steel company using a continuous improvement team

In the current competitive scenario, organizations have been using techniques capable of increasing their production capacities and maintaining a level of competitiveness that ensures their survival. One such technique is known as continuous improvement. Following this line of reasoning, the current study aims to describe how a continuous improvement team (quality control circle), one of the pillars of the integrated management system of a steel company, can reduce the time performing chemical analyses by the chemical laboratory in which the project was carried out. Through improvement actions to mitigate the causes prioritized by the continuous improvement team, a reduction of 27% between 2014 and 2015 was obtained in the number of samples´ analysis that were not within the maximum acceptable time of 4.5 minutes. In the period that all the improvement actions for the prioritized causes had already been implemented, there was a reduction of the analyses time of 4.26 minutes, below the target of 4.5 minutes. The best practices were standardized by reviewing the technical procedure in order to keep the time to perform analyses under the target (4.5 minutes) over the next years. According to the calculations made by the engineers, the company prevented the loss of an annual value of R$ 2.2 M with the conclusion of the project.