Web Site

Economy-point.org

» Economics » Logistics » Topics begins with E » Energy and material flow management

Printer Friendly FormatPrinter Friendly Format
Bookmark page - Energy and material flow managementBookmark this page
Back to LogisticsBack to "Logistics"
Page modified: Friday, June 23, 2006 20:29:12

The energy and material flow management (ESSM) aim at the ecological and economic influence of material and energy flows. Principal purposes are thereby those resources and/or material efficiency and the work of lasting cycles.

Origins of the energy and material flow management

1972 published a set of scientists under Dennis L. Meadows the first report to the club OF Rome, "“the borders of the growth"”, in which they referred to among other things the shortage of natural resources by the growth of mankind. This publication led to the first international conference across the human environment (United nation Conference on the Environment, 1972 in Stockholm) and the mechanism of its own environmental program (UNEP) in Nairobi. This again coined/shaped the term "“Eco development"”, whatever contained among other things elements of the satisfaction of the basic needs by means of the own resources basis as well as measures to the preservation of resources.
A milestone in the discussion around long-term strategies to the resources safety device finally the 1987 published Brundtland report of the UN-special commission "“world commission for environment and development"” represented. Within this report the term "“lasting development"” was defined for the first time in its meaning used today:
"“Sustainable development is development that meets the needs OF the present without compromising the ability OF future generation tons meet their own needs. It contains within it two keys concepts: 1. The concept OF "“needs"”, into particular the essential needs OF the world `s poor, tons yielded overriding priority should given; and 2. The idea OF limitations imposed by the state OF technology and social organization on the environment ability ton meet present and future needs."”  
Is of special importance here the reference to the "“idea of the borders"”, which to the club OF Rome has its origin in the first report and even in the later guard rail model of the WBGU again is.
With the conference of Rio de Janeiro in the year 1992 became from the word creation "“lastingness"” and/or "“lasting development"” finally a normative, international guidance principle, which was generally based on the three-column model. The indulgence of natural resources always forms thereby central topic.
With the work of the  commission "“protection of humans and the environment energy and material flow management"”"” became "“an important term in the German environmental policy. "“Material flow"” becomes fundamental as"”"… the way of a material of its production as raw material over the different stages of the refinement up to the stage of the final products, which use/consumption of the product, if necessary its re-use/utilization up to its disposal"… "“define. Energy flows are summarized i.d.R. under material flow. Material flow systems represent thus all definable systems, in which material and energy flows are moved and transformed.
Energy and material flow management meanwhile a topic area varied far became, which is used in versatile regard and exhibits just as numerous connections to adjacent topic areas. Thus the first beginnings of energy and material flow management already are in the work of Wassily Leontief, which developed 1930 a methodology for the representation of economic processes in the form of input output tables. Before a view of the material in and outputs was already in chemistry well-known with the analysis of chemical processes.
Necessity for energy and material flow management
In politics and research energy and material flow management are accepted meanwhile extremely positively. The country-specific and national promotion emphasis, which concerns itself exclusively with this topic, proves this. The resonance in the enterprises is to be called however so far rather with restraint, although the positive, economic aspects are occupied by energy and material flow management long in different studies.
The development of the cost structure points to enterprises that the use of energy and material flow management is even necessary not only recommendable, but. Thus material costs represent the largest cost block in the processing trade - with rising tendency. For this trend there are above all three causes:  
(1) Scarcity of resources leads to rising costs, as is to be observed with steel and oil.
(2) Enterprises in the processing trade reduce increasingly the manufacturing depth and process ever high-quality materials.
(3) The past reduction of costs programs focused as far as possible on the personnel expenditure or on optimizations in the sequence organisation. 
This has the consequence that material costs move ever further into the focus of optimization measures and thus a lowering of material costs becomes essential, in order to exist in the global competition. 
The fact that here quite considerable Potenziale is present shows a study of Arthur D. Little, the Fraunhofer Institut for system and innovation research and the institute for Wuppertal, who were concerned with Potenzialen and strategies for the increase of the material efficiency in medium-size enterprises. For this purpose particularly material-intensive industries, like the production of metalworker certifications or plastic goods, were identified and measured Kostensenkungspotenziale on basis of available material efficiency studies as well as production costs statistics. Altogether Minderungspotenziale of material costs over approx. 7 became billion "€ for the processing industry in Germany measure by the study. Proportionally seen it concerns thereby Kostensenkungspotenziale which can be enough into the two digit range of the total costs of the individual enterprise.
Measures within this range focus among other things the decrease of material and resources losses by improvement of the quality (e.g. by reduction of the committee), optimization of production processes, material recycling or the cycle guidance and/or multiple use of industrial water.  
Thus well assessable Potenziale exhibits operational and outside material flow management, which serves the ecological and the economic goal dimension of the lastingness in the sense both. Additionally an increase of the material efficiency can contribute also to a safety device of the jobs. Thus energy and material flow management prove as an instrument, which can cause positive effects in all three goal dimensions of the lastingness.



Printer Friendly FormatPrinter Friendly Format
Back to topBack to top
Back to LogisticsBack to "Logistics"
Back to topBack to top
Back to LogisticsBack to "Logistics"
Related Websites
We found here 4 related websites.
Back to topBack to top
Back to LogisticsBack to "Logistics"
Page cached: Wednesday, July  5, 2006 14:42:51
Valid XHTML 1.0!  Valid CSS!
Page copy protected against web site content infringement by Copyscape