Abstract

Strategic or critical material issues have recently drawn significant attention. While all materials are important to a certain degree, identifying critical ones remains essential due to time and resource constraints. This paper first provides a comprehensive diagnosis of material criticality at the product level, focusing on the following dimensions: Imbalance between demand and supply, Importance of the material to the object (e.g., product), Supply accessibility (including materials that cannot or should not be accessed), Dynamic factors or abrupt changes. Based on this diagnosis, the paper proposes a methodology to alert and evaluate critical materials in products, serving as a decision-making support tool for industries. A unique feature of this methodology is its product-level focus. Additionally, it enables personalization across different contexts by integrating dynamic factors into indicators and scenarios. A basic scenario example is included to illustrate how to derive calculation criteria from the diagnostic framework.