Case Study Analysing Potentials to Improve Material Efficiency in Manufacturing Supply Chains, Considering Circular Economy Aspects

Anja Braun,Stephan Seiter,Volker Reichenberger,Peter Kleine-Moellhoff

doi:10.3390/su10030880

Abstract

In order to decouple economic growth from global material consumption it is necessary to implement material efficiency strategies at the level of single enterprises and their supply chains, and to implement circular economy aspects. Manufacturing firms face multiple implementation challenges like cost limitations, competition, innovation and stakeholder pressure, and supplier and customer relationships, among others. Taking as an example a case of a medium-sized manufacturing company, opportunities to realise material efficiency improvements within the company borders—on the supply chain and by using circular economy measures—are assessed. Deterministic calculations and simulations, performed for the supply chain of this company, show that measures to increase material efficiency in the supply chain are important. However, they need to be complemented by efforts to return waste and used products to the economic cycle, which requires rethinking the traditional linear economic system.

Highlights

What would a world look like in which there was no more waste? How could everyday products be designed to be reused several times? What if, in future, manufacturers had to return the entirety of each product to the value-added cycle after the end of its life cycle?In particular, the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector is globally perceived to be underperforming in terms of environmental friendliness [1]
In order to evaluate the potential for material efficiency measures in supply chains and through circular economy activities, a manufacturing enterprise was chosen for evaluation which had already been assessed by one of the authors concerning material efficiency improvements
The company supplies surface-coated decorative automotive parts, consisting mainly of aluminium and wooden inlays. This enterprise is regarded as a focal company because it has a significant impact on total material efficiency, is able to disrupt supply chains by influencing technology choice or design alternatives, and is able to impact circular economy aspects

Summary

Introduction

What would a world look like in which there was no more waste? How could everyday products be designed to be reused several times? What if, in future, manufacturers had to return the entirety of each product to the value-added cycle after the end of its life cycle?In particular, the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector is globally perceived to be underperforming in terms of environmental friendliness [1]. Environmental targets are often considered to conflict with economic objectives and improvement proposals suggested for material efficiency become secondary concerns [2] One of the first authors considered to have influenced the development of the circular economy concept is Boulding (1966) [5]. He envisaged a “spaceman economy” that would operate by reproducing the initial limited stock of inputs and recycling waste outputs. According to Braungart et al, 2007, the cradle-to-cradle design demonstrates the need to maintain and even enhance the value, quality, and productivity of resources in order to have a net positive environmental impact [6]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion