I-Wider issues and Standards Flashcards
Designers must consider the following to minimise environmental impacts?
-Conserve materials, use as little material as possible and reduce the volume of raw materials used, it helps to avoid waste and preserve the Earth’s resources.
-Conserve energy, this can be done by using fewer processes, that means that less energy is needed overall.
-Sustainable products, use resources in an efficient and responsible manner, to minimise your environmental impacts.
-Primary carbon footprint, measures direct CO2 emissions from burning fossil fuels, this can be reduced by using locally sourced goods and environmentally friendly energy sources.
-Secondary carbon footprint, measures the indirect CO2 emissions from use and breakdown of a product.
-Product miles, the total distance from growth/manufacture to consumption, buy locally sourced products and avoid products that have been manufactured in multiple locations.
How to minimise the environmental impact of packaging?
-Lightweight, easier to transport, which reduces CO2 emissions and it suggests that there is less packaging involved which reduces waste.
-Recycled content, less raw materials used, which reduces waste and greenhouse gas emissions.
-Recyclable/Reusable, the packaging could be used again to produce more packaging.
-Refills, allows packaging to be reused so that it does not become waste after one use.
-Minimal material, reducing the material used means there will be less overall waste when it is discarded.
-Charging as a deterrent, people are less inclined to use something they don’t necessarily need if they are forced to pay.
Renewable and Non-renewable energy?
Non-renewable-An energy resource that cannot be easily replaced so will eventually run out.
Renewable-An energy source that is easily replenished so won’t run out.
Advantages of renewable energy?
-It is sustainable so will never run out.
-Renewable energy facilities generally require less maitinence than traditional generators.
-Fuel from natural resources has less operational costs.
-There is little to no waste produced, which means minimal environmental impacts.
-Social and economic benefits, can provide benefits such as employment and use of local services in the area.
Disadvantages of renewable energy?
-It can be difficult to generate the large quantities of electricity that are produced by tarditional fossil fuels.
-They often rely on weather for its source of powerand if its supply is unreliable then the source on energy is inconsistent.
-It is difficult to store energy in large quantities for later use.
-Renewable energy is more expensive due to large cost of new technology to produce it.
Circular economy?
A circular economy aims to use materials in a way that ensures a continual cycle of reuse and remanufacture without having products end there life in landfill:
-Biological nutrients, organic material that can be simply composted and safely return to ecosystems without harming the natural environment, such as plant based or biodegradable material.
-Technical nutrients, man-made material designed to be used repeatedly at the same initial high quality.
Benefits of a circular economy?
-Culture, it works against the ‘take/make/dispose’ culture so reduce waste.
-Productivity, it promotes and drives a greater resource productivity.
-Resources, aim to keep the highest quality and value in order to maintain the continuous cycle.
-Waste, ensuring a continuous cycle means products don’t end up in landfill, which reduces waste.
-Pollution, producing products with renewable energy, reduces the need for non-renewable energy, which cause pollution via greenhouse gases.
-UK economy, it helps deliver a more competitive UK economy.
-Manufacture and consumption, help to reduce the environmntal impacts of manufacture and consumption.
Planning an accurate and efficient manufacture?
Design specification-Everyone in the manufacture has clear expectations for the finished product, which saves time and money.
Production schedule and quality control-Improved production times with a schedule, quality control reduces costs and minimises waste.
Pre-production prototype development-User centred design, creates high quality products as it incorporates feedback from prototypes throughout the design and manufcture, and then refines them at each stage.
Pre-production quality assurance-Requirements must be met to ensure quality of raw materials and components, it leads to early identification of a problem so that they can be fixed early.
Prototype production quality control checks-Regular checks throughout the manufcature catch problems early to ensure that the product is faithful to its intended design.
Quality conrol checks?
-Visual aesthetics checks as regular sampling throughout the production
-Sample dimension checks, using measuring equipment on indivdual parts or the whole product.
-Tolerance dimesions using fixed and specific measuring equipment.
-Machine tooling and alignment calibrations.
-Machine maintinence and tooling replacements.
-Checks on the quality of the manufactured finish.
Using CAD is ensure quality?
-Components can be modelled and assembled to ensure they fit and any possible issues can be solved before the manufacture.
-FEA (Finite element analysis), used to analyse the stresses that a component will face during its use without having t produce a full scale model which can be expensive especially on large manufacture.
-CFD (Computational fluid dynamics), used to check the flow of materials within a machine to ensure the correct width of channels are used for things such as cooling mechanisms.
What is total quality management (TQM)?
-An approach to project management that aims to remove waste and produce products right the first time.
-Companies that use TQM strive for continual improvement and encourage their workforce to help solve problems and contribute to the effectiveness of the production process without fear of expressing their views.
-It helps to improve quality and therefore boost customer satisfaction.
What is scrum?
-Is a method of project management that focuses on working in a team to reach a goal in a short time scale.
-The team works on a specified task and attend daily updates where individuals feedback their progress towards the team goal.
-Easy to respond to changes to customer demand due to the regular feedback meetings.
What is six sigma?
The aim of the system is to reduce the number of defective products produced by assessing and improving each stage f the design and manufacture:
-Define, what is the issue with the process.
-Measure, map out the extent of the current issue.
-Analyse, determine where the issue occurs.
-Improve, itroduce procedures to rectify the problem.
Control, ensure that the solution will be maintained.
What is lean manuafcturing?
It aims to eliminate all the waste from the product production, which is anything that does not benefit the client:
-Transport, reducing transport times reduces the risk of damge or loss and th chance of production being delayed.
-Inventory, use JiT manufacture to reduce inventory, it can help protect against damage or loss.
-Movement, refers to employees and their equipment and unnecessary movement can increase production times.
-Waiting, workers may have to wait for others to catch up if time for manufacture is not split evenly between processes.
-Over production, extra storage would be required and excess products may never be required for sale.
-Over processing, investment into complex machinery can only be justified if you use all the functions available, otherwise you could purchase a cheaper model.
-Defects, any defective products must be removed.
What is critical path analysis?
-A project management method used to analyse all the individual stages within a project and plan the effective and time efficient completion of each element within the desired schedule.
-The project is broken down into time order and wasted time can be identified, where you are waiting unnecessarily to complete the next task.
Quality control checks?
-Refers to the monitoring, checking and testing of everything throughout the production to ensure they conform to acceptable tolerances.
Material checks:
-Simple visual checks to see defects.
-Chemical analysis on a small sample of the material to check moisture levels or other elements that may affect the product.
-Colour matching for polymer pigments or paint finishes.
Dimensional accuracy checks:
-Measure formed components to check that they fit within set limits.
A GO/NO GO gauge?
-Checks if a single measurement fits within a tolerance range giving a simple pass or fail reading.
-Quicker than a vernier capliper because the operator does not have to gain an accurate reading and it can be easily carred out with little training.
-The gauge does not need adjusting or recalibrating.
Restriction of hazardous substances (RoHS)?
It restricts the use of specific hazardous substances found in electrical products, it aims to prevent them entering the production process in order to prevent damage to human health and the environment.
The battery directive?
Batteries should show a crossed-out wheelie bin to explain that batteries should not be disposed of in normal waste. Clear instructions for safe removal and disposal must be provided with the product.
Polymer codes?
They are used to identify the polymer so that they can be separated and then recycled correctly.
Packing directive?
It aims to limit the production and prompt the recycling or reuse of packaging:
-Keep the weight and volume of the packaging to a minimum.
-Reduce/remove hazardous materials within packaging materials.
-Design reusable packaging.
WEEE directive?
It covers the end of life of electronic products.
The EC energy label?
-It is required on household appliances to assist customers into making purchasing desicisions.
-It uses a coloured scale from A to G, to show most to least efficient and gives consumers an easy method of comparison.
Eco-labelling?
A range of certifications given to companies that are seen to have met specific environmental targets and by displaying them it gives the conumer a greater level of infomation.
