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Analysis and exploitation of resource efficiency potentials in industrial small and medium-sized enterprises – Experiences with the EDIT Value Tool in Central Europe

Dobes, Vladimir LU ; Fresner, Johannes ; Krenn, Christina ; Růžička, Pavel ; Rinaldi, Caterina ; Cortesi, Sara ; Chiavetta, Cristian ; Zilahy, Gyula ; Kochański, Maksymilian and Grevenstette, Philipp , et al. (2017) In Journal of Cleaner Production 159. p.290-300
Abstract

Material and energy costs represent about 50% of the operating costs incurred by European small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Although the potential for resource efficiency improvements is high, the necessary awareness and human resource capacities to explore this potential are limited. Existing tools for exploration of resource efficiency improvement potentials have several shortcomings: they are either tool-driven, of a solely qualitative nature or do not address all levels of a business. Users of such tools therefore miss important improvement opportunities. In order to overcome these limitations and to systematically identify, quantify and fully explore resource efficiency improvement potentials, an international team... (More)

Material and energy costs represent about 50% of the operating costs incurred by European small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Although the potential for resource efficiency improvements is high, the necessary awareness and human resource capacities to explore this potential are limited. Existing tools for exploration of resource efficiency improvement potentials have several shortcomings: they are either tool-driven, of a solely qualitative nature or do not address all levels of a business. Users of such tools therefore miss important improvement opportunities. In order to overcome these limitations and to systematically identify, quantify and fully explore resource efficiency improvement potentials, an international team developed and tested a new comprehensive, needs-driven and quantitative diagnosis tool named the ‘EDIT Value Tool.’ This tool can be used to perform initial diagnoses for companies. The EDIT Value Tool was piloted in eighteen manufacturing SMEs in six Central European countries. Evaluation of the test results showed that the tool is effective in helping company personnel to identify the main weaknesses and the potentials for company improvements. The tool achieves this by evaluating a business's characteristics: its stakeholder values, the corporate strategy to implement its mission and vision, assessment of the effectivity of the company's management systems, processes and products. The benefits of using the EDIT Value Tool that were of most benefit to the companies were the proposed changes to corporate technology and management. The collection of quantitative and qualitative data helped company personnel to develop new perspectives on how to monitor and to improve resource efficiency and to increase awareness of and commitment to more sustainable manufacturing systems.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Cleaner production, Eco-design, Initial review, Life cycle approach, Resource efficiency, Stakeholder analysis
in
Journal of Cleaner Production
volume
159
pages
11 pages
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • wos:000403854200027
  • scopus:85020034214
ISSN
0959-6526
DOI
10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.05.017
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
bee971ec-bc07-42b6-b6d9-b28975d41643
date added to LUP
2017-06-26 13:02:07
date last changed
2024-06-09 18:57:01
@article{bee971ec-bc07-42b6-b6d9-b28975d41643,
  abstract     = {{<p>Material and energy costs represent about 50% of the operating costs incurred by European small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Although the potential for resource efficiency improvements is high, the necessary awareness and human resource capacities to explore this potential are limited. Existing tools for exploration of resource efficiency improvement potentials have several shortcomings: they are either tool-driven, of a solely qualitative nature or do not address all levels of a business. Users of such tools therefore miss important improvement opportunities. In order to overcome these limitations and to systematically identify, quantify and fully explore resource efficiency improvement potentials, an international team developed and tested a new comprehensive, needs-driven and quantitative diagnosis tool named the ‘EDIT Value Tool.’ This tool can be used to perform initial diagnoses for companies. The EDIT Value Tool was piloted in eighteen manufacturing SMEs in six Central European countries. Evaluation of the test results showed that the tool is effective in helping company personnel to identify the main weaknesses and the potentials for company improvements. The tool achieves this by evaluating a business's characteristics: its stakeholder values, the corporate strategy to implement its mission and vision, assessment of the effectivity of the company's management systems, processes and products. The benefits of using the EDIT Value Tool that were of most benefit to the companies were the proposed changes to corporate technology and management. The collection of quantitative and qualitative data helped company personnel to develop new perspectives on how to monitor and to improve resource efficiency and to increase awareness of and commitment to more sustainable manufacturing systems.</p>}},
  author       = {{Dobes, Vladimir and Fresner, Johannes and Krenn, Christina and Růžička, Pavel and Rinaldi, Caterina and Cortesi, Sara and Chiavetta, Cristian and Zilahy, Gyula and Kochański, Maksymilian and Grevenstette, Philipp and de Graaf, Daniel and Dorer, Conrad}},
  issn         = {{0959-6526}},
  keywords     = {{Cleaner production; Eco-design; Initial review; Life cycle approach; Resource efficiency; Stakeholder analysis}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{08}},
  pages        = {{290--300}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Journal of Cleaner Production}},
  title        = {{Analysis and exploitation of resource efficiency potentials in industrial small and medium-sized enterprises – Experiences with the EDIT Value Tool in Central Europe}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.05.017}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.05.017}},
  volume       = {{159}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}