Dairy production in Brazil is an important activity of the agricultural sector and it has a vital role in the economic and social development process of the country. Brazil fluid milk consumption is estimated at 177 liters per capita per year. Consumption of fluid milk is forecasted to increase around 2 percent in 2013. The increase is derived mostly from an estimated increase in industrial use, supported by higher disposable consumer income. Milk drink products in Brazil are not only expanding

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... in volume but also gaining in sophistication and health orientation. Brazil is considered as the top flavored milk drink market in Latin America. The lack of vision and understanding of the production chain as a whole, eventually led to an asymmetric behavior, in some situations, resulting in losses along the production process, often justifying the dissatisfaction of producers. The differences in type of producers, technology standards, low investments, the profile of traditional estates, owners resistance to changes, cultural barriers and distrust lead to unbalance of the estate productivity and the disorganization of the supply chain. The present study proposes an investigation and classification of the dairy chain to demonstrate that it is possible to organize the estates of the dairy chain, using indicators to rank them, modeling best practices to improve productivity and become a sustainable productive chain.