Variáveis sistemicamente prevalentes para a eficiência técnica: avaliação da operação de um forno de reaquecimento no setor siderúrgico

Abstract

Brazil needs an efficient and competitive steel sector to face external competition. The siderurgy is a branch of metallurgy responsible for steelmaking, and among the productive processes in the industry the steelmaking process that uses the reheating furnaces can be highlighted. This research employs the modeling with the techniques of Systemic Thinking and Systems Dynamics in the formulation of a computational model in the context of reheating furnaces. Then, using the validated model, Data Envelopment Analysis was used, evaluating the technical efficiency and the use of the Tobit regression of statistically significant variables. These variables are used to define the simulated scenarios. Subsequently, the scenarios efficiencies were evaluated by means of descriptive statistics, evaluated targets and backlash and tested the hypothesis of equality of the average with the test of Welch and Post-Hoc Kruskal-Wallis. Finally, the explanatory analysis and identified with the application of the computational technique of the Artificial Neural Network are the prevalent variables of the technical efficiency of the reheating furnace. This study enables and stimulates planning, management and decision making based on the analysis of the best options and allows the taking of actions based on previous knowledge, and thus contributes to specific initiatives focused on competitiveness.