ESTRATÉGIA EM LOGÍSTICA: <HBA Hutchinson Brazil Automotive Ltda.>

Abstract

The current Brazilian business environment has been going through a series of political, economic, and social transformations that, combined, have produced a strong increase in competitiveness. Furthermore, the process of globalization that in recent years has arrived in our territory has also forced Brazilian companies to seek alternatives that allow them to gain sustained competitive advantages. Until 1990, Brazilian companies did not show a greater concern with the competitiveness issue. Accommodating the lack of competition, companies they paid little attention to the issue of quality and productivity. From 1990 onwards, some companies began to face the problems of competitiveness head-on, investing in the modernization of processes and in the improvement of the quality of the products to supply the delay of many years of stagnation. To respond to these new challenges, the companies began to invest in the launch of new products and in the increase of service content, with the aim of increasing customer satisfaction. These new guidelines generated the need for greater flexibility on the part of companies, flexibility that should be achieved without the sacrifice of the continuous search for cost reduction. In this context, logistics appears as a tool fundamental in helping to increase flexibility, improve services and cost reduction, essential factors for any company to compete in the scenario current.