Potentials for Improvement of Resource Efficiency in Printed Circuit Board Manufacturing: A Case Study Based on Material Flow Cost Accounting

The pursuit of sustainable resource use by manufacturing companies is driven by resource scarcity, environmental awareness, and cost savings potentials. To address these issues, Material Flow Cost Accounting (MFCA) has been developed and applied as an effective environmental management tool. Within MFCA’s general allocation, the accounts of products and losses are overrated by weight or volume. However, such a method is incompatible with Printed Circuit Board (PCB) manufacturing because of industry characteristics in which primary inputs and products are measured by area. Based on MFCA, this case study systematically established several linear cost calculation models along the production process for capturing the actual waste flows as well as performing cost-benefit analysis. The recognition of previously ignored losses offered the incentive to find appropriate indicators to conduct cost-benefit analysis on hotspots for losses. Loss identification and analysis indicated that machining and wiring are the necessities and priorities of process optimization for resource efficiency improvement measures. Therefore, this research could not only advance the achievement of a profitable and sustainable production while improving resource efficiency at the source but could also provide support for decision making in PCB manufacturing.