DT Advantages and Disadvantages - Processess

Used for: Metals, Plastics, food, ceramics and Metal matrix composties 

Advantages

- form any shape in form

- little or no waste - CLEAN TECHNOLOGY.

- suitable for batch & volume 

- no finishing required.

Disadvantages 

- Moulding is done in one form - can't be characteristics of assembly or disassembly

- High initial capital cost

Used for: Metals, plastics, food, ceramics and some composites.

Advantages
- no joints therefore strong, durable and inexpensive
- smooth overall design without any visible joints. 

Disadvantages

 
- finishing meant to be required

-being solid pieces... damage done can be permanent 

Used for: Metals, ceramics and plastics

Advantages

- cheap and easy to carry out for the manufacturer

- cheaper for the user due to the cutting costs of a cheap manufacturing process.

- one of the more inexpensive manufacturing methods

Disadvantages

 - time consuming for the manufacturer

- rough finishing on 

- edges that need to be joined need a better finishing touch -> manufacturer may need to integrate abrading.

Uses - All Materials

Advantages

- convenient

- allows for materials, such as wood, be shaped without a mould

Disadvantages

- requires a sharp edge - potentially dangerous

- when done by hand, a lot of effort is needed

- a lot of unused material is discarded if it is not useful --> THIS IS NOT GREEN. 

Used for: Metals, plastics, timber, food, ceramics and some composites

Advantages:

- materials that are worn down and abraded are smoother and less dangerous for users

Disadvantages:

- when manufacturers abrade or wear down materials, material worn away goes to waste. THEREFORE:

- Abrading costs money and wastes materials 

Advantages of Craft Production

- A lot more care is put into a product therefore, higher quality than something that is mass produced.

- The product can be customised to fit personal needs --> good deal of flexibility for the designer, customer and craftsman

- much skill is often required for the craftsman --> Therefore they can charge more for the manufacturing of the product.

- Great amount of time and effort, making the product more expensive

- Not possible to produce things on a large scale therefore equating to possible loss of profit for the manufacturer. However, higher prices of craft produced products can sometimes make up for this.

- Not designed for disassembly, so if something goes wrong in the production, there are no interchangeable parts

- Every piece becomes more valuable, so if there are any defects, they become more important.

- The creation of economics of scale... the product is cheaper

- The quality and finish of the product is improved as fewer human errors occur

- Often, repetitive dirty tasks can be carried out by machines

- Increased wages due to skilled work force

- Efficiency of production: less time take to produce goods

- Low job satisfaction

- Environmental Pollution

- Worker’s boredom

- Health and Safety. Work conditions are usually poor, sometimes due to lack of safety standards

- Redundancy - Machinery for labour substitution

- Cost of Energy, training and capital machinery. Increased wages die to highly skilled operators needed.

Advantages

- Replacing human operators with machines in hard, phyiscal or monotonous tasks

- Replacing humans in tasks done in dangerous environments (ie, in fire, space, underwater, nuclear etc)

- Performing tasks beyond the capability of humans of size, weight, speed, endurance etc. 

- Economy improvement. 

Disadvantages

Techinal limitation - current technology is unable to automate all the desired tasks

- Security threats: An automates system may have limited levels of intelligence, hence it is most likely susceptible to commit error

- Unpredicatble development costs - The research and development costs of automating a process may exceed the cost saved by the automation iself.

- High initial cost. - huge investment in comparison with the unit cost of the product

• Promoting positive impacts

• ensuring neutral impact or minimizing negative impact through conserving natural resources

• reducing pollution and use of energy

• refucing wastage of energy and resources

• conserving raw materials and energy

• eliminating toxic raw materials

• reducing the quantity and toxicity of all emissions and waste before they leave a process

• Many companies react to legislation by doing the minimum required 

• pressure and legislation are reactions to situations that have already developed. They are examples of reactive response

• A better approach is to be proactive; that means to address those problems before they arise

• consumers feel responsibility if legislation is in place

• manufacturers need to recycle

• consumers will need to achieve a better balance between what they want and need