Proposal of operating best practices that contribute to the technical efficiency in Brazilian sugar and ethanol mills

Technical efficiency is one of the main performance indicators in a sugar and ethanol mill, and it can be indicated by the percentage of cane sugar recovered and transformed into sugar, ethanol, and other products. Thus, given the sector's current crisis, to increase competition and optimize the performance, productive units need to improve their efficiency in relation to the use of inputs. Therefore, this research aims to propose operating best practices that together increase the technical efficiency of sugar and ethanol mills. The methodological procedures used involve a quantitative and qualitative approach, using, firstly, data envelopment analysis (DEA), along with quintile analysis and truncated multilinear regression, allowing a cross-referencing of information from 121 mills through the 2010/2011 to 2014/2015 crushing seasons. Secondly, a case study was carried out at a sugar mill in the region of Ribeirao Preto-SP through interviews with specialists in the sugar and ethanol production processes, resulting in a proposal of 35 operating best practices that can collaboratively improve the technical efficiency of sugar and ethanol mills. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.