OCR A-Level Product Design manufacturing processes and scales overview quiz quiz

Vacuum forming

Rotational moulding

Injection moulding

Blow moulding

Solid injection moulding

Sheet extrusion

Press machining

Rotational moulding

Deforming hot metal aligns the grain structure

It removes more waste material from the solid billet

It melts the metal completely and recasts it as one piece

It always uses a stronger alloy than the machined version

A solid, complex casing such as a power tool body

An open, shallow, thin-walled shell such as a tray

A hollow seamless bottle with a narrow neck opening

A long product of constant cross-section such as pipe

Small batch

Mass-production line

One-off (bespoke)

Continuous flow

Continuous production uses no automation at all and relies entirely on skilled manual labour

Continuous production makes only one-off bespoke items built to a particular client's specification

There is no real difference; the two terms describe exactly the same scale of production

Continuous production makes a flowing bulk commodity non-stop, not discrete countable products

2.30 pounds

1.50 pounds

0.80 pounds

3.50 pounds

To melt the material so that it can be poured into the mould cavity ready for shaping

To hold the workpiece and guide the tool so operations are accurate and repeatable

To design the product on screen and generate the instructions that drive the machine

To collect and recycle the waste material that is left over after each machining operation

It is comfortably the cheapest way to mass-produce identical parts in very large numbers

It produces the strongest possible parts, far stronger than any forged or injection-moulded part

It builds parts directly from a CAD file with no tooling, ideal for prototypes and customisation

It needs no digital file at all and works directly from a hand-drawn paper sketch instead

CAD manufactures the parts on the machine; CAM designs and models them on screen

They are exactly the same thing and the two terms can be used interchangeably

CAD only stores design files, while CAM is used purely for 3D printing parts

CAD designs and models on screen; CAM drives machines from the design

Proactive, managing the process so faults do not arise

Reactive, inspecting the output and finding faults after they happen

Concerned only with rejecting and scrapping finished defective products

Used only in one-off bespoke production and never in mass production runs

0.05 mm

0.2 mm

0.1 mm

25 mm

Because specifying an exact single size is illegal under manufacturing standards rules

Because allowing a tolerance band actually makes the finished parts measurably stronger

Because no process is perfectly precise, so a workable range lets parts be made economically

Because giving a tolerance removes the need for any inspection of the finished parts at all stages

The company that made the product holds a certified ISO 9000 quality management system

The product was independently tested and certified by BSI and carries the Kitemark too

The product and all of its packaging are fully recyclable at the end of the product's life

The product meets the relevant legal safety and environmental requirements for sale