Toolbox for Increasing Resource Efficiency in the European Metal Mechanic Sector

Strategies to improve the economic and environmental performance of companies are usually pursued from a local perspective, hardly considering interactions between different value chain actors. Thus global improvements are not necessarily reached. Against this background, the authors present an approach for an integrated improvement strategy covering both perspectives to reveal hidden resource saving potentials. Moreover, a “decision-making toolbox” has been developed, allowing for an identification of company-internal and cross-company improvements as well as resulting trade-offs. Applicability and benefits of the approach are underlined by a use case application from the metal mechanic industry.