The behavior of successful manufacturing companies has changed in response to the accelerating pace of technological development in recent years. Manufacturing firms are under greater pressure than ever to bring new products and processes to market rapidly, with lower costs and higher quality than achieved in the past. In addition, the establishment of a global economy no longer dominated solely by the United States has required firms to expand their outlooks and horizons. Successful firms must take a multinational view, understanding and serving local customer needs while maintaining the efficiency of a global enterprise. This requires greater flexibility in manufacturing and distributing new products.

As the business environment for materials manufacturing changes, so too does our measure of materials performance. Traditionally, materials scientists and engineers have emphasized processing, structure and properties, and the way they come together to produce performance of a product in a given application. However, as shown by Figure 1, there are several additional dimensions to performance. In particular, successful commercial performance depends not only on the physical properties of the material but also on our ability to shape it into a useful object in an economical and timely manner. Without shape, the product cannot serve its intended function, and without economical production, the product's usefulness is limited to fewer, higher value applications. Achieving more rapid and more consistent commercial success from advanced materials requires emphasizing not only the process by which the material is made but the process by which the material achieves its geometry and function, while at the same time maintaining the ability to bring these materials to market rapidly at an economical price. Indeed, the cost delay in commercializing a new material can be the key to success or failure.