Eduqas GCSE Design and Technology: manufacturing processes - a complete overview

What this topic actually demands

Manufacturing processes is the "how it is made" half of Eduqas C600's technical content. It sits in Section A as core knowledge and is examined in depth for your Section B material. The marks come from matching the right process to the material and the product, choosing the right scale of production for a quantity, and working accurately with tolerances.

This guide walks through the process families and the accuracy and finishing tools in specification order, then sets out the Eduqas exam patterns. Each subtopic has a matching dot-point page with worked exam questions; this overview ties them together.

Wastage and addition

Wastage removes material to shape a product (sawing, drilling, milling, turning, laser cutting), so it makes waste. Addition joins material (adhesives, fastenings, welding). Joints are permanent (welding, adhesive) or temporary (screws and bolts, for flat-pack and repair). Match the process to the material: laser cutting and solvent cement for acrylic, welding for steel.

Deforming and reforming

Deforming reshapes a solid by force or heat without melting it (bending, pressing, vacuum forming, line bending). Reforming melts a material and forms it in a mould (injection moulding for solid detailed parts, casting for metal, blow moulding for hollow bottles). Reforming needs an expensive mould, so it suits high volumes.

Scales of production

The four scales are one-off (bespoke, expensive per item), batch (groups of identical items, flexible), mass (high volume, low unit cost) and continuous (non-stop, single product). The right scale depends on the quantity: tooling cost is shared over the units, so more identical items means a lower unit cost.

CAD/CAM, jigs, quality and tolerances

CAD/CAM and CNC make identical parts from a digital model; jigs and templates hold and guide so parts are made the same. Quality control checks products against the specification; quality assurance is the system that prevents faults. A tolerance is the permitted variation in a dimension, with an upper and lower limit, so a 50 mm plus or minus 0.5 mm part passes between 49.5 mm and 50.5 mm.

Surface treatments and finishes

Finishes protect, improve appearance or add function. Timber takes paint, varnish, oil or preservative; metal takes galvanising, anodising, powder coating or paint; most polymers are self-finishing. Match the finish to the material and where the product is used.

The exam patterns Eduqas repeats

Component 1 tests this topic with short recall (name a process, a scale), tolerance calculations (state the limits), Explain questions (describe vacuum forming or injection moulding, why a jig and quality control keep parts identical, why a finish is needed), and process-choice questions for a named product. Match the process and finish to the material, link the scale to the quantity, and show working in tolerance calculations.

For the official specification

WJEC Eduqas publishes the full specification (C600), past papers and mark schemes at eduqas.co.uk. Always revise from the current specification and Eduqas's own materials, because question style and command words are board-specific.