Rigesa is one of the highlights of a book about Technological Innovation - Aug 26, 2008 - 8:51:00 AM

Consultant Valter Pieracciani has just published a book entitled Innovation Factory ¿ A Practical Guide to the Transformation of your Business, which broaches innovation as a real alternative to corporate competitiveness. The book proposes a reflection on how to reinvent the company, the area of operation and its business dealings, in order to be able to succeed and endure.
Rigesa employees Ailton de Salles Pupo, Business Development Manager, and Carlos Y. Homma, Taxation Manager, were the co-authors of this work, which introduces cases on the subject and highlights Rigesa as a company concerned with innovation.
About the Technological Innovation Program at Rigesa
Since 2006, as a result of Federal Law 11.196/05, Rigesa has been steaming ahead with the Technological Innovation Incentive Program, which establishes tax advantages for companies involved with technological innovation.
The aim of the Technological Innovation Incentive Program is to conduct research and develop new technologies in the production process.
At Rigesa, the program, which was created around two years ago, has produced consistent earnings for the company and the market: approximately R$2 million in tax breaks have already been obtained in respect of the tax years 2006 and 2007; this means that Rigesa has reduced its tax liability by this amount.
The amount received, when compared with those of other companies in the paper and pulp sector, is very significant, since, according to the Ministry of Science and Technology, the total incentives of companies participating in the program in 2006 was R$5.91 million.
According to the Ministry of Science and Technology, Rigesa was the only company in the ¿Sheet and corrugated paperboard packaging manufacturing¿ segment to obtain the benefit in 2006.
At Rigesa, a team composed of employees from different areas is dedicating itself to build and adopt new methodologies to improve control of the program.
The group¿s main mission is to detail all the steps in the lead up to a product launch or a process being employed, from the initial discussions right up to the implementation of the innovation, going through the whole rationale which provided the basis for the creative effort.
For both Rigesa and for the Consultants Pieracciani, the company¿s advisers, it is very important to document all the innovation initiatives and records. Structuring them in a uniform manner enables anybody not participating in the process to reconstruct what was done, step by step, and to understand how a particular product or process was conceived. This saves hours of development work and supplies current and future teams with important information about how the company thinks and was thinking at the time. In addition, all those involved will be in a good position to respond to potential audits from the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Internal Revenue Service in Brazil.
At Rigesa, we have good examples of technological innovation.
In the Forestry Division, which has at its disposal a modern research, development and innovation center, with a team dedicated to studying and seeking new alternatives in the field of genetic enhancement, a new way of sowing seeds was discovered which resulted in productivity gains in the planted area.
The Consumer Packaging Division has developed the Digiduplo®, a packaging capable of accommodating two compact discs in just one polystyrene tray.
The Paperboard Packaging Division has developed one of Rigesa¿s most recent innovations, the 200 liter Bulk, a recyclable container for liquids which facilitates handling by individuals. The product was developed with a special high-performance paperboard packaging system which replaces other forms of packaging and provides a reduction in logistical costs.
The Paper Factory at Três Barras processes, by means of a program entitled Management of Continuous Enhancement of Products, Processes and Machinery & Equipment, approximately one hundred innovations each year with a positive impact on plant operating earnings, products and the Rigesa workforce.