Evolução tecnológica no setor de máquinas de processar cereais: um estudo de caso

Abstract

This paper treats the technological evolution of a firm that produces cereal processing machinery. It details the substancial technological change that
ocurred in the productive process and in the final products in a period of more than fifty years, following the transformation of a small workshop in a productive unit that employed more than 500 persons in the end of the period. The process of technological change was characterized by small and gradual changes, frequently generated inside the firm, which enabled the firm to master increasingly sofisticated technologies, and reduing the tecnological gap to the international frontier. The labor productivity increased during this period, reflecting a long process of learning.