Materials data is a critical resource for manufacturing organizations seeking to enhance products, processes and, ultimately, profitability. This data describes the properties and processing of the materials that these organization uses - metals, alloys, plastics, composite materials, ceramics, etc. This data may come from a wide range of sources - e.g., materials testing, quality assurance, or measurement of product performance. The process by which manufacturers manage and use such information is one essential 'cog' in the larger machine that is the product lifecycle.
One project that has looked at this issue in-depth is the Material Data Management Consortium (MDMC),[1] a collaboration of leading aerospace, defense, and energy enterprises - organizations such as NASA, Boeing, Rolls-Royce plc, Honeywell, and GE Aviation. The MDMC has identified the problems caused by failures in the materials data management process and investigated how an optimized process can lead to better innovation and quality.