This study aimed at the determination of quality costs in production of eucalyptus seedlings, in a company that directs its wood production to cellulose and paper manufacturing, located in the Midwestern Brazil. The quality costs per activity and the categories of quality costs per operation were obtained through consultations to the company files , interviews with the technical and operational staff and in loco observations. Through these procedures, it was concluded that in spite of the fact that the investments in prevention for quality are at a good level, the costs of defects are high. This can be attributed to the lack of evaluation, that hinders the determination of the conformity degree of the several operations that comprise the process of seedling production, allied the lack of investments in some strategic points of prevention such as training for enhancing quality. The flaw costs in relation to the seedling cost only represent 7.8%. This value is relatively low, considering the absence of investments in evaluation and in training of the operational staff. This fact can be attributed to the high qualification of the technical body and the investments in research. Although this value seems small, when it is extrapolated for the annual program of 10 million seedlings, and depending on the real cost of the production, it can represent a considerable amount.
Quality costs; seedling production; eucalyptus
