Investigation of the supply chain of wooden doors

Esta dissertaÃÃo tem como objetivo investigar os fluxos de materiais e informaÃÃes entre os atores da cadeia de suprimento de portas prontas de madeira. Apesar de a literatura nacional apresentar estudos sobre o mapeamento de cadeias de suprimento na construÃÃo civil, poucos estudos abordam o tema para cadeias de suprimento localizadas na regiÃo Nordeste do paÃs. Essa cadeia de suprimento foi selecionada inicialmente com base em pesquisas realizadas pelo Grupo de Pesquisa e Assessoria em Gerenciamento na ConstruÃÃo Civil (GERCON) em que as esquadrias de madeira de empreendimentos habitacionais de interesse social foram apontadas como um produto problemÃtico. Partindo dessas pesquisas e buscando entender e solucionar os problemas por elas encontrados, esta dissertaÃÃo tem como foco a cadeia de suprimento de portas prontas de madeira que se apresentam como uma alternativa Ãs portas convencionais montadas na obra. As portas prontas de madeira tÃm todos os seus componentes prÃ-montados pelo fornecedor, o que teoricamente reduz a quantidade de atividades realizadas no canteiro de obras e, consequentemente, o tempo de instalaÃÃo das mesmas. Foram conduzidos estudos de casos em um empreendimento residencial e em um empreendimento comercial que adotavam o sistema de portas prontas. Mapas de fluxo de valor foram elaborados com base na observaÃÃo direta do processo de fabricaÃÃo e instalaÃÃo das esquadrias (visitas a fÃbrica da madeireira e ao canteiro de obras), registro fotogrÃfico e entrevistas com os diversos profissionais das empresas que fazem parte desta cadeia. EvidÃncias sugerem que as vantagens dos elementos prÃ-fabricados foram perdidas devido à falta de integraÃÃo entre os empreiteiros e fornecedores. A falta de troca de informaÃÃes entre os dois lados impediu uma utilizaÃÃo mais eficiente dos elementos prÃ-fabricados e a falta de padronizaÃÃo da espessura das paredes de alvenaria e tolerÃncias resultou em uma sÃrie de soluÃÃes de qualidade inferior durante a fase de instalaÃÃo.This masterâs thesis investigated the flows of material and information among participants of the supply chain of pre-fabricated wooden doors. The Brazilian literature on the topic presents different studies on supply chain mapping, however, few of them discuss issues related to supply chains on the countryâs Northeastern region. The supply chain investigated was choosen based on previous research projects carried out by the Grupo de Pesquisa e Assessoria em Gerenciamento na ConstruÃÃo Civil (GERCON), a construction management research group at the Federal University of CearÃ, Brazil. Previous studies carried out by GERCON researchers, on low-income housing projects, had revealed numerous problems related to wooden doors and windows. Using the results of previous studies as a starting point, this thesis studied the pre-fabricated wooden doors and their supply chain which have all of its components pre-assembled by the supplier. The use of pre-fabricated wooden doors would theoretically reduce the number of activities performed at the construction site, and would result in a shorter installation time. The two-phase research comprised a preliminary study and two in-depth case studies about pre-fabricated wooden doors. The author carried out the case studies in two high rising buildings (one residential and one commercial) in the city of Fortaleza, Brazil, in order to investigate the supply chain of pre-fabricated wooden doors. Value stream maps were developed based on direct observation of the processes involved to fabricate and install the product at the supplierâs plant and the construction site respectively, photos, and interviews with different professionals at the plant and at the site. Wooden doors presented problems related to the installation and final product quality regardless of the type of project. Some advantages of prefabricated elements were lost due lack of trust between contractors and suppliers, lack of consideration of preconditions necessary for successful site installation, and lack of standardization and tolerance management resulted in suboptimal solutions during the installation phase. Special attention should be paid to the interfaces between the prefabricated element and the other parts of the project, current means and methods should be revisited if the project is to fully take advantage of prefabrication. The lack of open communication and low levels of trust amongst the supply chain actors result in enormous amounts of waste (e.g., rework, wasted time, unnecessary handling, unnecessary use of resources) and diminished value to the client