Papers and boards - EdexcelProduction in quantity

There are four terms used to describe the scale of production in relation to manufacturing a product:

• prototype or one-off production
• batch production
• mass production
• continuous production

Prototype or one-off production

Most boards are very suitable for manufacturing a prototype due to the very low cost and ease of manipulation of the material. Many architecture firms use foam-core board to make prototype display models to present to clients.

Batch production

Some promotional books and magazines are printed in a batch, eg a programme for an event such as a sports fixture, listing teams and other information. These would be produced in a large quantity, but only once.

Costs are an important part in scales of production, as a designer will have to calculate the costs associated with production. Generally a manufacturer will charge less per item as the quantity increases because the machine can continue running without having to be set up again, and this saves money.

Mass production

Mass production is where the product is manufactured in very large quantities and would be suitable for printing popular magazines and newspapers. Usually mass-produced items require a small workforce but lots of machines for automation and the use of computers to speed up the manufacture.

Continuous production

The production of paper is continuous, meaning that it is made 24 hours per day, 7 days per week as there is a continual demand for the product. Highly specialised equipment is used to automate the process, which means that fewer workers are needed and there are low unit costs.

Accuracy and quality control

Consistency and quality are very important to a manufacturer who wants to offer the customer the best product. No product is made exactly the same, but an acceptable tolerance, or range of difference, can be controlled when a product is being manufactured.

If a photo frame has to be made to hold an A4 certificate, the frame must allow for the A4 paper to fit neatly inside. A4 paper is 297 × 210 mm. In this example, if the frame is inaccurate by +/- 1 mm, then this could still be acceptable. This range of measurement is called the tolerance - in this example the tolerance would be shown as 297 × 210 +/- 1 mm.

Some products need to be more accurate than others. A complex pop-up card might be made to a tolerance of +/- 0.1 mm, whereas a simple pop-up card could be made with a tolerance of +/- 1 mm. It is important for designers to know the tolerance so that they can calculate the upper and lower limits.

Example

A quality control (QC) check is carried out on a random sample of greetings cards - each should be made with a tolerance of +/- 1 mm.

The length of the card is meant to be 195 mm and the first greeting card measured is 197 mm in length. This is 2 mm too long and so is outside the 1 mm tolerance.

Companies will put quality control procedures in place to ensure the products are produced to a high standard and no errors occur. In printing, a registration mark is used, which can be looked at to ensure the printing lines up with the paper - this prevents the person from having to look at the whole product to check for errors.

Crop marks are used to show where to cut on a sheet of paper, and colour bars are used to check that the colours are being printed to the correct consistency and intensity.