diff --git a/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/step/builder/SimpleStepBuilder.java b/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/step/builder/SimpleStepBuilder.java
index ca2a8ee43..0cc69f8cc 100644
--- a/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/step/builder/SimpleStepBuilder.java
+++ b/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/step/builder/SimpleStepBuilder.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2006-2017 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2006-2018 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
diff --git a/spring-batch-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/core/step/item/FaultTolerantStepFactoryBeanTests.java b/spring-batch-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/core/step/item/FaultTolerantStepFactoryBeanTests.java
index 4e8b12d58..fc9928e8a 100644
--- a/spring-batch-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/core/step/item/FaultTolerantStepFactoryBeanTests.java
+++ b/spring-batch-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/core/step/item/FaultTolerantStepFactoryBeanTests.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2008-2017 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2008-2018 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -27,8 +27,10 @@ import org.aopalliance.intercept.MethodInvocation;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
 import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Rule;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
+import org.junit.rules.ExpectedException;
 import org.springframework.aop.framework.ProxyFactory;
 import org.springframework.batch.core.BatchStatus;
 import org.springframework.batch.core.ChunkListener;
@@ -77,6 +79,9 @@ import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
  */
 public class FaultTolerantStepFactoryBeanTests {
 
+	@Rule
+	public ExpectedException expectedException = ExpectedException.none();
+
 	protected final Log logger = LogFactory.getLog(getClass());
 
 	private FaultTolerantStepFactoryBean<String, String> factory;
@@ -135,6 +140,28 @@ public class FaultTolerantStepFactoryBeanTests {
 		repository.add(stepExecution);
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	public void testMandatoryReader() throws Exception {
+		factory = new FaultTolerantStepFactoryBean<>();
+		factory.setItemWriter(writer);
+
+		expectedException.expect(IllegalStateException.class);
+		expectedException.expectMessage("ItemReader must be provided");
+
+		factory.getObject();
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void testMandatoryWriter() throws Exception {
+		factory = new FaultTolerantStepFactoryBean<>();
+		factory.setItemReader(reader);
+
+		expectedException.expect(IllegalStateException.class);
+		expectedException.expectMessage("ItemWriter must be provided");
+
+		factory.getObject();
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Non-skippable (and non-fatal) exception causes failure immediately.
 	 *
diff --git a/spring-batch-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/core/step/item/SimpleStepFactoryBeanTests.java b/spring-batch-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/core/step/item/SimpleStepFactoryBeanTests.java
index 46e241771..a62ed6f0b 100644
--- a/spring-batch-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/core/step/item/SimpleStepFactoryBeanTests.java
+++ b/spring-batch-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/core/step/item/SimpleStepFactoryBeanTests.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2006-2017 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2006-2018 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -27,8 +27,9 @@ import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.List;
 
 import org.junit.Before;
-import org.junit.Ignore;
+import org.junit.Rule;
 import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.rules.ExpectedException;
 import org.springframework.batch.core.BatchStatus;
 import org.springframework.batch.core.ChunkListener;
 import org.springframework.batch.core.ItemProcessListener;
@@ -64,6 +65,9 @@ import org.springframework.core.task.SimpleAsyncTaskExecutor;
  */
 public class SimpleStepFactoryBeanTests {
 
+	@Rule
+	public ExpectedException expectedException = ExpectedException.none();
+
 	private List<Exception> listened = new ArrayList<Exception>();
 
 	private SimpleJobRepository repository = new SimpleJobRepository(new MapJobInstanceDao(), new MapJobExecutionDao(),
@@ -78,7 +82,7 @@ public class SimpleStepFactoryBeanTests {
 		}
 	};
 
-	private ItemReader<String> reader;
+	private ItemReader<String> reader = new ListItemReader<>(Arrays.asList("a", "b", "c"));
 
 	private SimpleJob job = new SimpleJob();
 
@@ -93,6 +97,28 @@ public class SimpleStepFactoryBeanTests {
 		new SimpleStepFactoryBean<String, String>().getObject();
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	public void testMandatoryReader() throws Exception {
+		SimpleStepFactoryBean<String, String> factory = new SimpleStepFactoryBean<>();
+		factory.setItemWriter(writer);
+
+		expectedException.expect(IllegalStateException.class);
+		expectedException.expectMessage("ItemReader must be provided");
+
+		factory.getObject();
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void testMandatoryWriter() throws Exception {
+		SimpleStepFactoryBean<String, String> factory = new SimpleStepFactoryBean<>();
+		factory.setItemReader(reader);
+
+		expectedException.expect(IllegalStateException.class);
+		expectedException.expectMessage("ItemWriter must be provided");
+
+		factory.getObject();
+	}
+
 	@Test
 	public void testSimpleJob() throws Exception {