Proposal of stages by controlling the efficiency analysis in sugar and ethanol mills

Abstract This study aimed to identify the main points of control in the efficiency of the productive process in sugarcane mills. Thus, a two-stage DEA approach applied for a sample of 121 mills, distributed among the seasons of 2010/2011 until 2014/2015. The first stage separated the efficient mills in transforming the total recovered sugar (TRS) of the processed sugarcane into sugar and ethanol, and the second stage identified significant production process variables in the efficiency with truncated regression. Besides, with the help of industry experts and statistical analysis, established 13 variables, which could control and increase the efficiency of the sugar and ethanol production processes, contributing to the overall efficiency of sugar and ethanol units.