The paper starts by introducing and discussing the results of wide-ranging field sudies carried out within manufacturing industry with the purpose of determining how accurately important engineering parameters with respect to processing materials are identified in practice. The results show exceptionally wide variations even in comparison with the recommended limits of a data bank. The paper infers the difficulties for proper assessment of advanced technology given that conventional technology is not yet adequately understood under operating conditions. For future development in technological research, the systems approach would appear to be more likely to produce applications orientated data and this would seem logical from the production engineer's viewpoint.