READOS / Products
Specifications, Product Quality and Sustainability
Specifications, value engineering, tested substitutions, recycled materials, durability, LCA and product imagery.
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- 01The cost you commit before you spend: why product cost is decided in designMost of a product's manufacturing cost is locked in by design decisions long before production. How to bring cost knowledge into design reviews while change is still cheap.
- 02Quality starts before the specification: what a clean quality report cannot tell youA clean quality report proves you built what you described, not that the description was right. How to set quality through requirements, design reviews and evidence before delivery.
- 03Where no standard exists, your specification becomes the benchmarkWhen no external standard covers a product or service, the figures in your datasheets, quotes and labels become the benchmark you are judged against. How to set and own them deliberately.
- 04Value engineering is not cost cutting: protecting function while improving whole-of-life valueValue engineering is often a polite word for cuts. How to define the functions a design must deliver, generate real alternatives and judge them on whole-of-life value rather than first cost.
- 05Equivalent parts and tested assemblies: why a substitution can void your compliance evidenceTest results and certificates describe a specific assembly as tested, not each component, so a like-for-like swap can leave you without evidence. How to control substitutions properly.
- 06Recycled materials in products: qualify the whole configuration, not the ingredientRecycled content earns its place only when the whole configuration meets function, durability, manufacturing, compliance, supply and cost needs. A practical gate method for small makers.
- 07Durability is sustainability: designing for the loads a product or asset will actually faceWhy premature failure wastes materials, energy and money twice, and how to design for real operating conditions, failure modes, interfaces and maintenance rather than nominal ratings.
- 08Life cycle assessment explained: measuring a product's environmental effects from material to disposalHow life cycle assessment works under ISO 14040 and 14044: functional units, system boundaries, inventory, impact categories and interpretation, plus EPDs and the limits of environmental claims.
- 09Engineering for the body: what the history of medical devices teaches product developersFrom the ECG to the pacemaker, CT scanner and defibrillator, medical devices met unusually hard constraints. Their history holds lessons on safety, usability and regulation.
- 10Colour that matches: managing brand and product colour across screens, print, packaging and coatingsBrand and product colours rarely match across screens, brochures, labels and painted or moulded parts. Why they drift, how colour is specified and measured, and how to approve it.
- 11Product photography for manufacturers: lighting, backgrounds, difficult surfaces and consistent resultsGood product photos help customers understand, trust and buy industrial products. How to light metal, glossy and dark parts, keep images consistent and manage photos responsibly.
- 12Images in technical documentation and manuals: choosing, creating and managing visuals people can followGood images make manuals and work instructions clear, safe and easy to translate. When to use photos, line art, exploded views, screenshots or diagrams, and how to keep them accurate.
These topic-based reading collections are organised alphabetically; chapters may be read in any order.
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