Material Efficiency Measurement: Empirical Investigation of Manufacturing Industry
Journal article, 2017

Improving material efficiency contributes to reduce the volume of industrial waste as well as resource consumption. However,
less has been published addressing on what to measure for material efficiency in a manufacturing company. This paper presents
the current practice of material efficiency performance indicators in a manufacturing context through a bottom-up approach. In
addition to literature review, the empirical data was collected via a multiple case study at seven global manufacturing companies
located in Sweden. The results show that existing material efficiency indicators are limited and are mainly measured as a cost or
quality parameter rather than environment. The limited number of measurements relates to the fact that material efficiency is not
considered as a central business in manufacturing companies and is managed by environmental department with limited
correlation to operation. Additionally, these measurements do not aim to reduce waste volume or improve homogeneity of
generated waste.

manufacturing

Material efficiency

performance indicator

Author

Sasha Shahbazi

Mälardalens högskola

Mohammed Salloum

Mälardalens högskola

Martin Kurdve

Swerea

Mälardalens högskola

Magnus Wiktorsson

Mälardalens högskola

Procedia Manufacturing

2351-9789 (eISSN)

Vol. 8 112-120

Subject Categories

Production Engineering, Human Work Science and Ergonomics

Other Engineering and Technologies not elsewhere specified

Environmental Management

Other Materials Engineering

Driving Forces

Sustainable development

Areas of Advance

Production

DOI

10.1016/j.promfg.2017.02.014

More information

Latest update

4/7/2021 1