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A D V A N C E D M A T E R I A L S & P R O C E S S E S | A P R I L 2 0 1 7
2 2
T
he number of materials engineers
is not expected to significantly
grow in the future, but their influ-
ence on the way materials are selected,
used, sourced, and manufactured in a
company will undergo a structural shift
with considerable business impact. Fur-
ther, the scope of materials engineering
leadership will broaden from component
and subsystem level work to influence
on product, strategy, and business goals.
This evolution together with technology
megatrends such as materials analytics,
modeling, optimization, and Industry
4.0 (IoT) will significantly transform the
conventional view of the materials engi-
neering function as a quality sub-func-
tion—with emphasis on experience and
experiments.
CURRENT STATE
Direct material cost is the highest
cost item for an original equipment
manufacturer (OEM) of automotive, ag-
ricultural, and construction equipment.
Four significant OEM materials deci-
sions include:
1. Materials research (introduction of
new materials or process)
2. Materials selection for a component
or assembly
3. Materials processing
4. Materials sourcing
LEADERSHIP ROLES FOR
MATERIALS ENGINEERS
STEADILY EVOLVING:
ARE YOU READY?
Today’s materials engineering leadership role is expected to expand and have a
greater impact on evolving the organizational, technological, and strategic initiatives
of original equipment manufacturers.
Satyam S. Sahay, FASM,* John Deere Technology Center India, Pune
*Member of ASM International
However, only one of these deci-
sions is driven by materials engineering
in OEMs (Table 1). Unfortunately, the
role of materials engineering is reac-
tionary in many of these decisions, i.e.,
fixing wrong materials decisions made
by other functions. Even the introduc-
tion of new materials or processes,
which is typically performed by mate-
rials engineering, requires synergy and
maturity of design, supply manage-
ment, manufacturing, and quality func-
tions for transitioning to business.
Traditionally, the OEM materials
engineering function has 4E charac-
teristics: (1) expertise and experience
based decisions, (2) experiment based
decisions, (3) emergency problem
solving, and (4) external supplier de-
pendency. Most materials engineering
decisions are derived from functional
experience plus laboratory and shop-
floor experiments. Materials engineers
are continually “putting out fires” on
product issues in the field or at the
customer (failure analysis) and on the
manufacturing line due to this reac-
tionary approach. Many of these issues
are attributed to decisions made at an
earlier stage of design, manufacturing,
and procurement without appropri-
ate materials engineering input. With
today’s increased emphasis on out-
sourcing, there is greater dependence
on external suppliers for many key
materials processes and workflow de-
cisions, resulting in a loss of important
OEM competencies and skillsets. Fur-
ther, materials engineering functions
operate primarily at the component or
subsystem level, resulting in limited in-
fluence and impact.
IMMENSE POSSIBILITIES AND
BUSINESS IMPACT
New skillsets and an encouraging
environment provide anunprecedented
opportunity for materials engineering
CAREERS INMATERIALS ENGINEERING
TABLE 1 — KEY OEM MATERIALS DECISIONS AND RESPONSIBLE FUNCTIONS
Key materials engineering decisions
Function driving decision
Materials research
Materials engineering
Materials selection
Design function
Materials processing
Manufacturing engineering
Materials sourcing
Supply management function