This mini-lesson covers Manufacturing Processes and Techniques for OCR A-level Product Design: the process families, shaping polymers and metals, joining, and scales of production.
You will sort processes, choose the right method, and calculate a CNC output. Press Start to begin.
Process families
Families of manufacturing process
Processes are grouped by what they do to the material:
Wasting — removing material (milling, turning, laser cutting).
Deforming — changing shape without changing state (bending, pressing, vacuum forming).
Reforming — melting and reshaping (casting, injection and blow moulding).
Addition/fabrication — joining parts (welding, adhesives, fixings).
Quick check
Which family?
?Molten polymer is forced into a mould to make a part every few seconds. Which family is injection moulding?
Polymer shaping
Shaping polymers
Volume processes for thermoplastics:
Injection moulding — complex solid 3D parts at high volume.
Blow moulding — inflates a parison to make hollow bottles.
Vacuum forming — a heated sheet over a mould for open trays.
Extrusion — continuous profiles (pipe, track).
Rotational moulding — large hollow items (tanks).
Quick check
Making a hollow bottle
?A hollow, sealed detergent bottle is needed in high volume. Which process is correct?
Metal & joining
Metal processes and joining
Casting pours molten metal into a mould: sand casting for one-off/large parts, die casting for high-volume accurate parts.
Joining is permanent (welding, brazing, adhesives) or temporary (screws, bolts, clips). Temporary fixings allow disassembly for repair and recycling.
Sort it
Sort the processes
Tap a process, then the family it belongs to.
✂️ Wasting
↩️ Forming (deform)
🔥 Moulding (reform)
Quick check
Which scale?
?Millions of identical drinks cans are made on a non-stop flow line. Which scale of production is this?
Scales & CAM
Scales of production and CAM
Scale is chosen to match demand:
One-off, batch, mass and continuous production.
As volume rises, tooling cost rises but unit cost falls.
CAM and CNC give consistent, repeatable quality across every unit.
Match it
Match each process to a typical product
Tap an item on the left, then its match on the right.
Process
Typical product
Calculate
Your turn — CNC output
1A CNC machine makes one part every 30 seconds throughout a 6-hour shift. How many parts can it make in the shift?