The discipline of Materials Processing Engineering at Nanchang University is one of the longest-established and strongest disciplines in the university. It was approved as the first doctoral degree-granting point in Jiangxi Province in 1993 and the first post-doctoral research mobile station in Jiangxi Province in 2000. It is a key discipline of the national "211 Project" and a key discipline of Jiangxi Province during the "Ninth Five-Year Plan", "Tenth Five-Year Plan", "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" and "Twelfth Five-Year Plan". It has built the "Advanced Forming and Mold Laboratory", a characteristic and advantageous discipline co-constructed by the central and local governments, the Jiangxi Key Laboratory of Lightweight and High-Structural Materials, and the Jiangxi Key Laboratory of High-Performance Precision Forming (merged into the Jiangxi Key Laboratory of Light Alloy Materials in 2023). The undergraduate major of "Material Forming and Control Engineering" is the first national characteristic major of Nanchang University, and it won the first place in the comprehensive evaluation of undergraduate majors in Jiangxi Province in 2016.

The discipline has a strong teaching and research team with high research level and strong innovation ability. There are 27 teachers, including 17 professors and 15 doctoral supervisors. All teachers have doctoral degrees. Nearly 70% of the teachers have obtained the National Natural Science Foundation, and 78% of the teachers have more than one year of study abroad experience. Academician Lv Jian, honorary professor, is a doctoral supervisor of this discipline. The discipline has 1 Changjiang Scholar of China, 3 Double Thousand Talents of Jiangxi Province, 1 Jinggang Scholar of Jiangxi Province, 5 academic leaders of major disciplines in Jiangxi Province, 2 talents of the "555 Project" of GanBo in Jiangxi Province, 4 talents of the provincial "Hundred, Thousand and Ten Thousand Talents Project", 2 Hong Kong Scholars, 1 GanPo Juncai in Jiangxi Province, 1 Distinguished Young Scholar of Jiangxi Province, and 1 Young Scientist of Jiangxi Province.

The discipline has achieved great development and gratifying results in talent cultivation, discipline construction, scientific research and other aspects. It has formed its own research characteristics in the directions of advanced light alloy material technology and additive manufacturing, new polymer processing technology, advanced welding technology, biological materials and intelligent diagnosis and treatment equipment, as well as advanced high-temperature alloy materials and their processing and manufacturing. It has undertaken a number of scientific research projects such as national major science and technology projects, national key R & D plans, national science and technology support plans, national natural science foundations, and provincial key R & D plans. It has carried out research on school-enterprise cooperation projects related to "bidding for projects", and has made remarkable scientific research achievements. It has won 1 Excellent Achievement Award (Science and Technology Progress Award) of Scientific Research in Institutions of Higher Education of the Ministry of Education, 1 First Prize of Rare Earth Science and Technology of the Chinese Society of Rare Earths, 1 First Prize of Graduate Teaching Achievement of the Chinese Society of Nonferrous Metals, 1 Youth Cultivation Project of Teaching Achievement Award of Jiangxi Province, 1 Second Prize of Graduate Teaching Achievement Award of Jiangxi Province, and 1 Second Prize of Excellent Graduate Textbook of Jiangxi Province. It has accumulated more than 1500 academic papers, published more than 30 monographs and textbooks, and authorized more than 100 national invention patents. It enrolls more than 100 undergraduate students and more than 60 master and doctoral students every year.

The discipline is a director unit of the National Plastic Engineering Society, a director unit of the National Foundry Society, a director unit of the Magnesium Alloy Branch of the Chinese Materials Research Society, the chairman unit of the Jiangxi Plastic Engineering Society, the chairman unit of the Jiangxi Foundry Society, the vice-chairman unit of the Jiangxi Automotive Engineering Society, the vice-chairman unit of the Jiangxi Welding Society, the vice-chairman unit of the Jiangxi Mold Industry Association, and the executive vice-chairman unit of the Jiangxi Forging and Pressing Association.