Value chain optimisation

The largest savings can be made when the entire supply or value chain of a product is optimised from a resource efficiency point of view. Today, few companies manage the entire production line. Finished goods are made from the inputs of multiple businesses as subcontracting and inputs of semi-finished goods are widespread in manufacturing operations. This means the output of one firm is the input of another?s processes. As a result if input needs do not meet exact output specifications, large quantities of resources are wasted. Thus, cooperation between the different layers of the supply chain is essential in achieving important efficiency gains.

Value chain optimisation can be addressed through an integrated approach to resource consumption dealing with inputs of raw materials and other semi-finished goods, output of finished products, by-products and waste, transport and storage, packaging resources and recyclability of packaging wastes.