Independent Materials Science & Engineering

Independent Materials Expertise for
High-Cost Product and Manufacturing Problems

When products fail, quality slips, material changes create risk, or a technical dispute demands clarity, Flaney Associates provides direct access to senior materials-science and engineering expertise.

Discuss Your Challenge Get the Failure & Cost Checklist
JO Led by  Joshua U. Otaigbe, PhD, CEng, FIMMM — Founder & Principal, Flaney Associates
40+ Years in Industry & Academia
150+ Refereed Publications
7 Patents Held
Why People Call

When a Materials Problem Becomes a Business Problem

These are the situations where an independent technical view usually pays for itself — and where being wrong is expensive.

Failures, returns and warranty exposure

Parts cracking, warping, discolouring or leaking in service, with returns and customer complaints escalating behind them.

Material substitutions and cost-reduction decisions

An “equivalent” grade, a supplier change or a cost-down target on a part that is currently working.

Rising scrap and unstable processing

Scrap climbing, quality drifting between shifts or lots, and a process that has never settled into a stable window.

Delayed development and uncertain scale-up

A programme slipping on materials questions, or a formulation that works at pilot scale and not in production.

Product-liability, IP and manufacturing disputes

A technical question at the centre of a claim, where the answer has to hold up under scrutiny.

How We Help

Six Ways This Practice Is Engaged

Each has its own page setting out when it applies, how the work runs and what you receive.

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Failure & Root-Cause Analysis

Determine why a material, component or product failed — and what action is most defensible.

Failure & root-cause analysis →
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Materials Selection & Qualification

Select and validate materials for performance, manufacturability, cost and real service conditions.

Materials selection & qualification →
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Product Development & Materials Innovation

Reduce development risk from concept through production.

Product development →
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Manufacturing Process Optimization

Improve yield, quality, throughput and process consistency.

Process optimization →
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Technical Due Diligence & R&D Strategy

Make better technology, supplier and development-investment decisions.

Technical due diligence →
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Expert Witness & Litigation Support

Independent materials-science expertise for product liability, IP and technical disputes.

Expert witness & litigation support →
Joshua U. Otaigbe, Founder and Principal of Flaney AssociatesJO

Joshua U. Otaigbe

PhD, CEng, FIMMM

Founder & Principal, Flaney Associates, LLC

Chartered Engineer (CEng) Fellow, Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining (FIMMM)
  • PhD, University of Manchester (UMIST), England
  • Formerly Senior Project Leader and Engineer, Corning Incorporated
  • Registered Chartered Engineer and Chartered Scientist (UK)

Full credentials

Why Flaney Associates

Direct Access to Senior Expertise

Large firms offer scale. Flaney Associates offers focused, principal-level attention to the decision behind the technical problem. The person you speak with first is the person who reviews the evidence and signs the findings.

  • Senior PhD materials-science and engineering expertiseForty years across industry and academia, in polymer engineering and materials science.
  • Independent advice and practical recommendationsNo laboratory to keep busy, no product line to favour, no material to sell.
  • Cross-industry perspectiveAcross product development and manufacturing, in the material classes and process areas set out under Industries.
  • Clear communication for executives, engineers and legal teamsFindings written to be acted on, including by people without a materials background.
  • Flexible use of appropriate outside laboratoriesTesting commissioned through university and industry partners, with national laboratories available where a specialised resource is required.
How We Work

From Business Impact to a Practical Path Forward

The investigation is scoped around the decision that is waiting on it, which is what keeps it proportionate.

1

Clarify the business impact

Define what is happening, what it is costing and what decision needs to be made.

2

Frame the technical question

Review evidence, process history, samples, documents and the candidate causes.

3

Build the right investigation

Prioritise analysis, testing, trials or technical review around that decision.

4

Deliver a practical path forward

Findings, risks, recommendations and next steps, in clear language.

Discuss Your Challenge
The Record

Documented Credentials, Not Claimed Outcomes

Qualifications, appointments and publications that can be checked. Client results are not published here, because engagements of this kind are confidential and unverifiable claims are worth nothing.

PhD, University of Manchester (UMIST)Polymer science and engineering, England, 1984
Corning IncorporatedSenior Project Leader & Engineer
U.S. NSF CAREER AwardNational Science Foundation
Jefferson Science FellowU.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Fellow, IOM3 · SPE · FAEngInstitute of Materials, Minerals & Mining (UK); Society of Plastics Engineers; Nigerian Academy of Engineering
Fulbright-Tocqueville Distinguished ChairProfessor in Engineering, France, 2013–2014
Chartered Engineer & Chartered ScientistRegistered in the United Kingdom
7 patents · 150+ publicationsRefereed archival journals and books
See the full record
Industries

Where This Practice Can Point to Real Experience

Listed only where there is a record behind it — in the material systems, process areas and failure modes that define the sector.

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Polymers & Plastics

Engineering plastics, polyolefins, polyamides, polyurethanes and thermosets — degradation, formulation and performance.
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Composites

Carbon and aramid fibre composites, FRP/GRP, nanocomposites and organic–inorganic hybrid systems.
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Manufacturing & Processing

Extrusion, injection moulding, compounding, coatings and films, and the rheology that connects them.
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Consumer Products

Consumer plastics, packaging and barrier performance, thin films, electronics housings and recreation products.
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Automotive & Transportation

Lightweighting and material substitution, battery-system polymers, and aircraft and aerospace components.
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Energy & Oil/Gas

Petrochemical service environments, underground storage tanks and flexible piping, and protective coatings.
Insights

Materials and Manufacturing, for the People Deciding

Written for engineers, operations leaders and counsel who have a materials decision in front of them.

Latest from the Flaney Associates blog

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The New Materials Changing Everything Around You
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The New Materials Changing Everything Around You

You woke up this morning and touched dozens of materials that didn’t exist fifty years ago. The screen you’re reading this on is coated in a scratch-resistant glass that was originally developed for car windshields, reformulated in 2007 at the…

July 1, 2026 6 min read
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Redefining Plastic Waste with Cleaner and More Sustainable Solutions
Advanced Materials EngineeringSustainable Materials Technology

Redefining Plastic Waste with Cleaner and More Sustainable Solutions

This document introduces green plastics, also known as bioplastics, based on insights from the literature. It covers what bioplastics are, why they matter, their benefits and challenges, and what the future holds. What Are Green Plastics? Green plastics are…

December 27, 2025 4 min read
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Guides & sector briefings
Free guide

The Executive’s 12-Question Materials Failure & Manufacturing Cost Checklist

A short guide for deciding whether a product failure, quality problem, material change or process issue requires independent technical review — or whether your own team should keep it.

  • What the problem is actually costing, in terms your finance team recognises
  • Which evidence has to be preserved before anyone touches a failed part
  • When a materials question has already become a legal exposure
Send Me the Checklist
Next Step

Get Clarity Before the Next Costly Decision

A short conversation is usually enough to tell whether independent technical review is worth it — and if it is not, you will be told so.

Manufacturers & product teams

Discuss Your Challenge

Describe what is happening, what it is costing and what decision is waiting on it. You will get a direct assessment of whether and how this can be investigated.

Discuss Your Challenge
Attorneys

Request a Confidential Conflict Check

Send the parties and the technical subject matter only — no case details, no documents. Conflicts are cleared before any substantive discussion takes place.

Request a Conflict Check