Identification of Potentials for Improvement in Paint Production Process Through Material Flow Cost Accounting—A Step Towards Sustainability

Abstract

During the development of sustainable processes ecological as well as economic aspects play an increasingly important role alongside the social factors. These can be taken into account by using material flow cost accounting (MFCA) according to ISO 14051 which captures the environmental and economic impacts of material and energy inputs. In the BMWi collaborative research project µKontE the transfer of a batchwise to a continuous production of binder emulsion was investigated. A MFCA was set up as a case study for both manufacturing strategies. The influence and benefits of different levels of detail in the definition of the quantity centres were examined.