Main characteristics of product design in Brazilian sanitary metal industry

Product design, in the majority of Brazilian markets, is still internal, since importation was forbidden until the beginning of the 1990s. In this context, the Brazilian government is worried about how to promote partnerships in order to minimize the problems in the private sector and has asked the Institute de Pesquisas Tecnologicas to identify the main characteristics of some sectors, focusing on project design as a competitive factor. Among the sectors chosen was the sanitary metal industry, a segment of the civil construction sector. The study was based on secondary data and some interviews with the main actors in the production chain, like designers, business union chairman and firms engineers, for a qualitative analysis.