Manufacturing

This introductory level study unit introduces manufacturing as a system and will describe some of the many different ways of making products. It will illustrate how the required properties of the materials in a product influence the choice of manufacturing process used.

After studying this unit you will be able to:
• Explain the difference between industrial and engineering design with reference to familiar products; and for specific products explain whether it is the product’s form or its function that enhances its value in the marketplace.
• Understand the concept of a product design specification (PDS), and be able to indicate some to the factors which should be included in producing one.

• Describe the role of marketing in developing the PDS for a product.
• Classify products simply in terms of their basic shape.
• Describe the difference between the hot and cold working of metals and give the advantages of each.
• Indicate which types of manufacturing process are suited to producing different shapes of product.
• Indicate which processes are likely to be used for producing a particular product using a specific material or class of material.
• Describe the advantages and disadvantages of the different classes of manufacturing processes.
• Outline the concept of surface engineering for improving the properties of a component.

The unit looks at the manufacturing process, casting, forming, cutting, joining, making the gearwheel, and surface engineering.

The unit takes on average 20 hours to complete.

[Description and screenshot taken from the OU page for this course. (c) Open University used under the terms of their CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 license.]

Link: http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=399740
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License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/
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