Materials Matters Newsletter

January 2005

Topic: Why materials engineering?

Why Materials Engineering?
Myth vs. Reality

Many people mistakenly associate materials engineers only with lab analysis and failure analysis.  In reality, materials engineers also work as design, quality, and manufacturing engineers, providing the expertise to help design, manufacturing, and procurement teams make better decisions  about:

• Materials options for cost reduction, yield improvement, and quality improvement
• Materials selection for new designs
• Selection and implementation of robust processes
• Supplier capability and quality

Another misconception is that materials engineering is needed only for exotic materials.  In fact, design and product support teams often struggle with issues related to common engineering materials used in electronics, hardware, appliances, equipment, and vehicles.  These issues include corrosion, electrical contact, wear, strength, appearance, cost, availability, and proper specification, just to name a few.

Gaining a Competitive Advantage

The fact is materials choices play a key role in a product’s success.  Materials optimization allows products and companies to gain a competitive advantage via cost reduction, performance improvement, scrap reduction, and quality improvement.  We have found that most companies without materials engineers miss many of these opportunities.  Typically, these companies rely upon engineers without a formal materials engineering background.

Qualities of a Successful Materials Engineer

Experienced materials engineers have knowledge of the materials considerations required to design and manufacture cost-effective, high-quality products.

Other skills of a successful materials engineer include:

• Knowledge of materials options.
• Understanding of important materials characteristics.
• Access to a wide range of resources for materials information and data.
• Experience with the analytical techniques available for materials characterization.
• A network of materials engineers with expertise in different fields of materials science.
  

The Missing Piece

Image Materials decisions have a huge impact on the success of a product.  A materials engineer provides technical assistance and continuity between design, manufacturing, and procurement to help ensure that selected materials and processes meet the requirements to optimize performance, reliability, manufacturability, and cost.