Material Flow Cost Accounting - Proposals for Improving the Evaluation of Monetary Effects of Resource Saving Process Designs

There is no doubt about the need for a sustainable production. However, the development of resource saving process designs raises the question how to appraise the economic effects of appropriate alternative process (chain) configurations and technologies. The paper discusses the material flow cost accounting as a potential approach to reveal the quantitative and monetary effects in the frame of material flow management. It gives an introduction to its basic ideas, identifies methodical shortcomings and presents two enhancements for improvement: the explicit regard of energy (loss) flows and a procedure for a more detailed analysis and forecast of system costs.