Production Methods

This unit covers what sits inside a product and how the product gets made, and every topic in it is higher level only. The systems topics arrive in pairs. A3.2, A3.3 and A3.4 introduce structural, mechanical and electronic systems and show how each one turns up in ordinary objects, while B3.2, B3.3 and B3.4 take those same three and deal with selecting them and building them into a design.

The manufacturing topics shift the scale from the single product to the factory floor. A4.1 covers the techniques used to shape materials and why a technique that suits one material at one volume suits neither at a different scale, B4.1 covers how a production system is matched to a given product and quantity, and C4.1 deals with design for manufacture, where the way something will eventually be produced changes how it is drawn in the first place.