Material Efficiency at a Global Level

outside of company control (Dickens 1994, pp. 40). Depending on material composition, the cost of disposal per mass unit may often exceed the raw material value, especially for hazardous materials (e.g. mercury).

Process defects and inventory shrinkage, where value creation and system capacity are lost through material damage are perceived as the most painful material waste forms. An allocation of these costs to these material waste forms is however unusual in both conventional and material flow cost accounting (MFCA).

Since this work focuses on all losses of engineered materials losses in the factory system, regardless of their purpose in the factory system, Allwood’s definition will be further examined and adapted to the limits factory system.

Scholars have identified action fields to reduce the loss of in the manufacturing of goods and service delivery. The action fields are analyzed for their applicability to the factory system and arranged in the product life cycle model in Figure 16.

a. “Light weighting”: designing products with a smaller net material requirement (Peck et al. 2007, pp. 333; Allwood et al. 2013, pp. 5).

While reducing the net mass of a product reduces the demand for materials in component manufacturing, it is not a feasible solution for OM without consultation with R&D and sales. Therefore this cannot be considered in this work.

b. Reduce gross material requirements: less subtractive processes, additive manufacturing, geometrically optimized cutting plans (Jackson 1993, pp. 146–147). OM cannot arbitrarily change raw material or process specifications, and therefore this approach is outside their authority.

c. Reduce material use in manufacturing process: reduce the use of operating materials or recirculate operating materials (Jackson 1993, pp. 146–147). This field may be pursued within the factory system, as long as no changes to process or product specifications take place.

d. Re-using components: examining the potential for reuse of end-of-life products for introduction in the same product, fulfilling the same function (Jackson 1993, pp. 146–147; Allwood et al. 2013, pp. 6).

Component re-use intensifies the flow of post-consumer product components into assembly centers for re-use. This approach exceeds the gate-to-gate limits of this work and is therefore not further

e. Longer-life products: durable product design or more stable customer preferences to lengthen the life-phase in a sale-business-model (Abdul Rashid 2009, pp. 23; Allwood et al. 2013, pp. 6). Longer product lifespan lessens the demand for products and consequentially the flow of materials from distribution to use. This approach requires consultation with R&D and sales, exceeding operative decision-making.

f. More intense use: utilizing leasing, rental, service business models to provide a service instead of product ownership (Abdul Rashid 2009, pp. 23; Allwood et al. 2013, pp. 6). Leased products intensify the material flow between end-users and distribution (leasing centers). This approach requires strategic change to the business model and thereby exceeds the authority of OM.

g. Improved industrial yield: waste reduction in the production process (Peck et al. 2007, pp. 333). Industrial yield strives not only to decrease raw material losses in manufacturing, but also for the elimination of the flows to disposal as well as to recycling. This approach is within the scope of this work.

h. Reduce virgin portion of material consumption: reintroduce secondary materials in the supply chain (Peck et al. 2007, pp. 333;

Abdul Rashid 2009, pp. 23). Shifting the concentration of materials in the system from virgin to recycled or secondary increases the flow of post-consumer waste to materials manufacturing and decreases the demand for extraction. However, this requires a strategic change the manufacturing system (a change in incoming material specification) and exceeds the limits of this work.

i. Less energy intensive materials (Abdul Rashid 2009, pp. 23): using less energy in material manufacturing does not affect the quantity of material flow, but rather its material characteristics. A strategic

change in incoming material specifications is required to follow this strategy.

j. Non-toxic materials (Abdul Rashid 2009, pp. 23): This approach requires a change in incoming material specifications, a strategic decision outside the limits of this work.

k. Less-packaging (Abdul Rashid 2009, pp. 23): Less packaging would lessen the flow of materials from assembly to disposal, therefore exceeding the gate-to gate limits of the factory. However, approaches to limit the use of internal packaging would be within the framework of OM.

Figure 16: Material efficiency action fields in the product life cycle

Examining Figure 16, the action fields form four broader strategies, which roughly align with the recycling hierarchy, as shown in Figure 17. Ideally, it would be possible to eliminate material waste at all process levels by eliminating society’s demand for material goods (strategy I). This strategy scopes the action fields more intense product use, longer product life, and less packaging, as material goods circulate through the use and distribution phases infinitely. If strategy I is not possible (e.g. lacks consumer acceptance),

strategy II aims to reduce consumer demand for goods from raw virgin materials, therefore lessening the demand for material extraction. This includes the approaches of light-weighting, component re-use, and using recycled materials in manufacturing. Unlike the first two strategies, strategy III assumes an unchanged consumer demand for material goods and focusses on lessening the demand for material extraction and materials manufacturing by reducing the waste caused by these process stages. The fields of action include reducing gross material requirements, using less material intensive manufacturing processes, and improving industrial yield. Strategy IV seeks to reduce the environmental repercussions through material substitution, including using less toxic materials and less energy intensive materials.

The application of these four strategies results in a less intense, loss-free material flow to the consumer or service provider and the reintroduction of end-of life products as late in the supply chain as possible. This vision is in-line with the circular economy concept; however, this thesis will focus on strategy III, since it is the only strategy compatible with set product program and process specifications.

Figure 17: Material efficiency strategies at a global level