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The Materials Strategy Consortium

The Materials Strategy Consortium is a collaborative project that drives the development of software for systematic materials selection, substitution, and cost optimization. The Consortium solution helps to improve products while also meeting business objectives such as cost reduction, rationalization or diversification of suppliers, and materials equivalence in global manufacturing.

Members

Current members of the Consortium are:

• Emerson Electric
• Moen Inc. (Fortune Brands Home & Hardware) - case study
• TRW Automotive
• NASA
• DePuy
• Ethicon Endosurgery
• Benteler Stahl/Rohr GmbH
• Granta Design

Objectives of the Consortium

The Consortium's primary objectives are:

• to develop software that helps materials selection, substitution, and cost optimization, responding to the needs of project members
  
  
• to enable members to implement this software and apply it successfully
  
  

CES Selector is expert PC software for systematic materials selection. It is based on the pioneering work in this area of Professor Mike Ashby at Cambridge University and over fifteen years of development at Granta Design. The Consortium helps guide further development of CES Selector and the materials selection methods that underlie it, and to share best practice in its use.

The Consortium also works on application of systematic materials selection principles to help optimize materials and manufacturing choices enterprise-wide - in other words, to help the implementation of effective materials strategies. To do this we need to:

• Provide methods that can combine considerations of cost and function in choosing materials (as in CES Selector)
  
  
• Deliver these methods in a quick, and simple way that designers and engineers unfamiliar with the technology can apply to standard product design problems
  
  
• Make it easy to incorporate wider business objectives into the selection process (for example, guiding designers towards preferred materials in order to help meet the needs of procurement and supply chain functions)

The GRANTA MI platform provides an environment in which companies can consolidate all of the data required to support this process, as well as a web browser interface through which tools can be delivered to engineers' desktops. The Consortium has driven development of the GRANTA MI:Enterprise Materials Optimizer (MI:EMO) module to support materials strategies, and will drive the further development and use of this software.

Consortium membership benefits

Early use and development of innovative software

• As a Consortium member, you will have early access to the latest versions of GRANTA MI, Enterprise Materials Optimizer, CES Selector, and associated new tools.  Consortium members also benefit from special commercial terms for the software, with enhanced R&D commitment from Granta
  
  
• You will have a formal role in determining the the development priorities for materials selection solutions, helping to ensure from the outset that the resulting tools meet your company’s needs
  
  
• More information on the Consortium solution >>>

Networking and support to ensure success

• Face-to-face meetings, conference calls, and web events will allow you to network with peers in other commercial organizations and to learn about non-proprietary best practice
  
  
• Granta will provide support and consultancy to help you to implement and apply the technology successfully

A competitive advantage

• Early adoption of this important technology will provide a head-start over competitors
  
  
• Use of the software will deliver greater efficiency in your management and use of key information, resulting in reduced materials costs and improved product quality