This strand requires you to identify the materials and components for the commercial production of your product and to justify the choice of each material and component based on the required properties and characteristics. You could make reference to cost, availability, suitability to the manufacturing process, environmental considerations, etc. 

Do:

• Review Topic 4: Final Production and Topic 10: Commercial Production. Identify the materials and processes that you intend to use. Focus on the required properties and characteristics of the materials for a commercially viable product. For example:

• • Physical properties, including weight, volume, density, hardness, electrical resistivity, electrical and thermal conductivity, and expansion

  • Mechanical properties, including tensile strength, compressive strength, stiffness, toughness, ductility, elasticity and plasticity

  • Aesthetic characteristics, including form and shape, texture, appearance and, where appropriate, smell and sound

  • Environmental considerations, including whether they are from a sustainable source, recyclable, upcyclable; do they conform to Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) standards and certification; are they made from a non-renewable source; how much energy is used to extract them; what are the disposal considerations (for example, landfill)

  • Moral considerations, including whether they are locally sourced or non-toxic; what are the working conditions of those involved in the production of the materials; the cost

• Identify the details and evidence to support your choices. Some questions you might ask are: 

  • What mechanical and physical properties make this the ideal material or component? 

  • How available and cost-effective is this material? 

  • How sustainable is the material, and where does this fit with the overall design goals? 

  • Can you use an LCA to identify and justify one material choice over another? 

  • How does this material match with the production methods (Fii below)? 

Avoid:

• long descriptions of the physical and mechanical properties of materials. Only discuss properties that are relevant to the design context.

• Copying or cutting and pasting information from websites

• Presenting multiple options for each component

• Listing material properties or pasting material selection charts without linking the requirement to the commercially viable production process.

This strand requires you to identify manufacturing techniques for commercial production and justify the choice of each manufacturing technique based on the requirements of the commercial product. You could make reference to cost, availability, suitability to materials, environmental considerations, etc. 

Do 

• Review Topic 4: Final Production and Topic 10: Commercial Production. Identify the materials and processes that you intend to use. 

• Identify the details and evidence to support your choices. Some questions you might ask are:

  • How does the process match with the material choice?

  • How available and cost-effective is this process?

  • How does the process match with the scale of production (F3)? 

  • How sustainable is the process, and where does this fit with the overall design goals?

  • Can you use an LCA to identify and justify one process over another?

  • How does this process match with the production methods (F1)?

This strand requires you to state and justify your choices for the following elements:

• Market Segment(s):  Groups of customers who have similar needs, wants, and behaviours

• Market Localization: Where will your innovators and early adopters be? And where the early and late majority?

• Estimated Market Size: What sales numbers do you predict? How will these develop over time?

• Distribution channels: Sell to wholesalers? Retailers? And/or directly to customers?

• Scale of production: The four scales of production are: One-off, batch production, mass production, and continuous flow. You may also consider mass customization. 

• Volume of production: How many products will you produce per time unit and/or per batch? Use data and calculations to support your choices, estimates and predictions.

• Location of production: Explicitly consider the 3Ps (People, Planet, Profit) when presenting choices, estimates and predictions.

Various factors affect the volume of production: availability of natural resources and raw materials, technology, availability of capital, transport facilities, political conditions, climate, policies of the government, labour and market.

Do

• Present your work for the strand in writing with support images, data, or charts.

• Include data, or conduct additional research, to support your choices, estimates and predictions

• Identify any challenges or uncertainties regarding your choices, estimates and predictions.