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Graphic ProductsIndustrial Practices
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Learning objectivesL
earn
ing
ob
ject
ives
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different methods of production
scales of production
graphic products investigations
CAD and CAM in industry
jigs, moulds, formers, templates
barcodes
waste reduction.
To learn about:
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There are five main types of production, these are:
Many production processes involve a mixture of these methods. Some parts and components can be mass produced, while other parts may need to be individually made.
Just-in-time production
Continuous production
Mass production
Batch production
One-off production
Production types
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Advantages Disadvantages
One-off production usually takes a long time and is very labour intensive. This means that the outcome is often expensive.
One-off products are often hand-made and designed and manufactured for a very specific need or person.
One-off production is used when only one item is required.
One-off production
Product made to exact client specifications.
Little investment needed.
Labour intensive. Labour often must be highly skilled.
Materials expensive because they are bought in small quantities.
High design and manufacturing costs.
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Batch production is used when a set number of products are needed. One batch can consist of ten items or thousands of items, depending on the requirements of the project.
Flexible manufacturing systems are used – these involve production lines that can be altered to produce different items.
The production line is set up for each new batch. Once a batch is finished, it can be altered for the next product.
Batch production
Advantages DisadvantagesSpecialization of tasks is possible, increasing efficiency.
Quick response to customer needs.Machines can be reset and used to produce other products.
If you produce too few items, it can cost a lot to set up the equipment again for another batch later.
Production has to stop while production lines are reset.
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Mass production makes products on a large scale. It can involve the production of millions of units. It sometimes involves continuous production techniques.
Mass production usually leads to lower production costs because materials can be bought in bulk, and tasks can be specialized.
Mass production
Advantages Disadvantages
Specialization – production is split into stages and specific labour matched.
Often highly mechanized, so production is fast and labour costs are low.
Bulk material buying means lower costs.
Social implications – sometimes the jobs can get boring and don’t require much skill. Workers simply look after a machine.
Initial set up costs can be very high.
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This is when manufacturing takes place 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It is sometimes known as 24/7 production or continuous flow production.
It is most commonly used for mass production. Most tasks are usually carried out by computers and machines. The few workers that are needed operate in shifts, so that production is not interrupted.
Continuous production
Advantages DisadvantagesUninterrupted manufacture so goods are produced quickly.
Fewer workers, so lower labour costs.
No time and money wasted in starting, stopping and resetting machines.
Social implications – sometimes the jobs can get boring and don’t require much skill.
Initial set up costs can be very high.
Workers often must be paid more for working at night.
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Just-in-time is a tightly organized control system that aims to ensure that materials and components arrive at the factory at the exact time they are needed.
This reduces storage and wastage costs and should eliminate the possibility of running out of materials.
It uses stock management to ensure that materials are available when needed.
Just-in-time production
Advantages Disadvantages
Storage costs are very small.
Production is more flexible as there are no large stockpiles of materials.
If supply fails, the production line will just stop.
Relies heavily on suppliers and couriers being punctual.
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When you are designing a product, you must think how it will be made.
The number of units you choose to make will help you decide whether to:
mass produce your product.
produce your product in batches
produce your product as a one-off
First, you must decide how many products you are going to need.
The cost of producing each unit is usually lower the more you make, but you will waste money if you make more than you can use or sell.
Scales of production
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Scales of production
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Three of the most common graphic products are packaging, newspapers and posters. You need to be familiar with how these products are manufactured.
The next few slides will explore how these products are manufactured from the raw materials to the finished products.
Graphic product investigations
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Once the research and development stages are complete, the net design will be drawn on a computer using computer aided design and linked to a printer.
Graphic product investigation – packaging
Glue will be added to the joining tabs and the net assembled.
The net will then be scored and folded using a folding machine.
The net will then be cut out using a die cutter.
As soon as the ink is dry, the net will be spirit varnished.
The package will then be printed. The most common printing method used for packaging is lithography. It produces good print quality
and is reasonably fast and cheap.
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Graphic product investigation – newspapers
The paper is then folded using a bending machine.
The pages are cut using a guillotine.
The newspapers are then printed using lithography.
The computer is linked to the lithography printer.
The text is written and arranged with any images, using a desktop publishing package. The template remains the same, but the information changes daily.
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Graphic product investigation – posters
The poster will then be spirit varnished. This will happen as soon as the ink is dry. It gives the poster a glossy finish.
The most common printing method used for posters is lithography. Lithography produces good quality prints, is reasonably cheap and lends itself well to mass production methods.
The design is either drawn on a computer using computer aided design, or transferred onto computer using an input device, such as a scanner. The computer is linked to a printer.
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Computer Aided Design and Computer Aided Manufacture are terms used for a range of different ICT applications that can help in the design and manufacture of products.
COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN
A computer aided system for creating, developing, modifying and communicating design ideas.
COMPUTER AIDED MANUFACTURE
A term used for manufacturing processes controlled by computers.
CAD and CAM systems
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Computer aided design is widely used in industry. It allows you to:
generate working drawing from presentation images
render products to look exactly as you would like them.
draw with great accuracy, scale drawings when needed and duplicate images easily
generate 3D images
view a design from any angle
CAD and CAM
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Computer aided manufacture is also used extensively in industry. Computers control hi-tech machines and robotics that can manufacture products with great speed and accuracy. CAM devices include:
CAD and CAM
Solid laser plotters (stereolithography)– A new range of 3D printers that can create products by building up layers.
Cutters/plotters – A vinyl cutter/plotter can be programmed to draw or cut out text and images accurately.
Routers – These are computer controlled milling machines. They can create 3D and rotational objects from blocks of material.
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CAD and CAM
The video clip below shows how labels for sandwich packaging are designed on computer, and then cut out using a computer controlled vinyl cutter.
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Barcodes consist of a series of vertical lines of different widths, which correspond to numbers. They are now printed on most products.
Barcodes contain information about the product. They are read by an optical scanner.
The scanner sends a laser beam over the barcode. The bars are detected because they reflect less light back. The scanner transmits the code to the in-store computer, which then relays the product description and price back to the checkout.
Barcodes
Manufacturer code
Product code
Guard bars separate numbers
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Jigs, moulds and formers are used by manufacturers to make the same object repeatedly and identically.
This ice cube tray is a mould. It allows you to make ice cubes that are all the same size and shape over and over again.
Jigs, moulds, formers and templates
Jigs help you to line objects up.
Moulds help you to form objects by surrounding and shaping them.
Formers help you to bend and shape objects accurately and consistently.
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This mould is used to manufacture a hand held drum. You can see that it has been split into two parts to allow the drum to be removed once it has been moulded.
This jig allows holes to be drilled in a sheet of material in exactly the same places every time.
Jigs, moulds, formers and templates
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Jigs, moulds, formers and templates
Formers are a bit like the opposite of moulds – instead of placing the material to be shaped inside, you bend or shape the material around the former.
Here are two examples:You can make a papier mâché sphere by pasting newspaper to a balloon. The balloon acts as a former. Once the papier mâché is dry, the balloon can be burst and removed.
A former can be used to bend a metal rod into a particular shape.
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You will find that you use a lot of templates in graphic products. Templates allow you to replicate designs over and over again, with great accuracy.
This template helps you draw letters.
These are french curve templates – you can use them to help you draw lots of different curves.
Jigs, moulds, formers and templates
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You also get templates within desk top publishing (DTP) packages. These are graphical templates for producing a variety of standard documents such as CVs, letters, flyers and signs. The templates shown here are from Microsoft Publisher.
Jigs, moulds, formers and templates
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Jigs, moulds, formers and templates
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Many graphic products are related to packaging. Companies package their products for a number of different reasons.
Look how much packaging a simple cookie can create:
To protect the product
For easier transportation To advertise the product
To preserve the product
individual plastic wrapper
plastic tray
large plastic wrapper
cardboard box
bound in cellophane
Product packaging
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Waste costs money – any materials that are used must be used in the most economical way. Designs need to be laid out so that the amount of waste created is minimal.
Lets look at how we might layout the net for a cube.
A layout like this is uneconomical. It wastes materials and only four cubes could be manufactured. Is there a better way?
Waste reduction
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By turning the shapes around, you can fit six on the sheet and reduce the wastage. A manufacturer could make 50% more cubes from the same card by laying them this way.
Waste reduction
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Waste reduction
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Cost restrictions can sometimes limit our designs. If the product is on a tight budget, then the designer will have to make sure that their design will not be too expensive to make.
E.g. rather than making boxes with round bases that create a lot of waste, square based boxes may be used.
Should cost impact design this much?
Waste reduction
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Key pointsK
ey p
oin
ts
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There are five main methods of production – one-off, batch, mass, continuous and just-in-time.
The most appropriate method of production is determined by the number of items required.
CAD and CAM systems are widely used in industry to improve the speed and quality of manufacture.
Jigs, moulds, formers and templates are used to manufacture products faster and with greater accuracy.
Manufacturers seek to cut costs by reducing waste in the production process.