CUSTOMER DEMAND AS THE FOUNDATION OF LEAN MANUFACTURING IN THE DAIRY INDUSTRY

The objective of this research was to analyze customer demand as the foundation of lean manufacturing in the production systems of companies in the dairy industry in the Colon municipality. Theoretically, it was based on the authors Villasenor and Galindo (2007), Hernandez and Vizan (2013), Cabrera (2014), Chase and Jacob (2014), among others. The research was classified as descriptive, with a non-experimental, field, transectional design. The study population was made up of seven (07) dairy processing industries located in the Colon municipality, considering fourteen (14) research units made up of managers-chiefs and coordinators-supervisors through a population census. The data collection technique used was the survey, and as an instrument a questionnaire containing twenty-four (24) items, a Likert-type scale modality with five (5) response alternatives (always, almost always, sometimes, almost never and never), presented in an interrogative way in a positive sense, validated through the judgment of five (5) experts. For reliability, it was subjected to a pilot test obtaining a reliability of 0.94 calculated through the formula of the Alpha Cronbach Coefficient. The results obtained were processed using the analysis of absolute and relative percentage frequencies, where it is evidenced that customer demand is largely applied in the dairy industry. It is concluded that the implementation of the tools allows meeting the requirements in terms of product quality and delivery times, which are considered to maintain competitiveness as well as success in the market.