With the growth of an emerging global economy, the worldwide demand for engineering materials has steadily increased in recent years. Simultaneously, environmental concerns have put the spotlight on all manufacturing processes. Although engineering metals have a good environmental track record and can satisfy global end-user demand better than many other traditional materials, the energy requirements and process economics of metals are under unprecedented scrutiny. As a result, the importance of simulation-driven process and product design as well as optimization to solve time, price, sustainability and quality pressures is greater than it has ever been.