Autor: Matthias Baldinger

External stakeholders’ requirements towards the environmental performance of manufacturing companies have increased the importance of eco-efficient process design. A key prerequisite to select and implement appropriate improvement measures is an integrated environmental and economic performance (eco-efficiency) assessment. This paper presents three approaches to estimate the associated costs of the environmental impact caused by internal processes and therefore provides decision support for eco-efficiency improvements in the domain of manufacturing.

Additive manufacturing is today increasingly used to produce final products and not only prototypes in product development. Like many technologies before breakthrough it is mainly applied in niche markets, where it is overcoming its current limitations. Afterwards, it has the potential to transform industries as MP3 and iPod have done with the music business. The economist even speaks of the next industrial revolution [1]. This article supports companies in evaluating the strategic implications of additive manufacturing of final products in the mid- to long-term.