Concurrent engineering in Brazilian construction companies: Maturity assessment
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to identify the maturity level of concurrent engineering in Brazilian construction companies in the Great Vitória region – Espírito Santo. This is a qualitative research study, which proposes a methodology based on semi-structured and structured interviews applied in Brazilian construction companies, using nine case studies in construction companies of Great Vitória (Espírito Santo, Brazil). The results confirm the appropriate methodology and confirm that the companies that were analyzed have, in general, a good and managed maturity level. The research also shows that the quality search initiated in the 1990’s in Brazil is valid, since quality was concurrent engineering’s most developed element in construction firms. However, there is still a lack of stakeholders’ integration and understanding of what a multidisciplinary team is and how it should work, which suggests that companies need to work harder in training and coordinating their teams. As the results show, it is also noticeable that certain firms’ characteristics, such as size, time in the market, centralization of decisions, among others, interfere in the level of maturity of concurrent engineering.