Cost and budget is an important aspect of my current project. One of the main design aspects is it is light enough to be posted as a large letter to save on posting cost. I have also considered cost when selecting materials for my product to also keep costs down. This project was the first time cost has been a major factor and made me realise just how much I had taken for granted free resources and could have been a lot more thoughtful abut my material choices and design decisions in previous projects.
Bee Project
In theory my product would be very cheap to manufacture and buy, Unfortunately as I was just making one I ended up spending a lot more on my product compared to if I was mass producing it. However I still kept costs down as much as possible by shopping around for materials and buying from the internet.
A problem I also had was materials were much more expensive to buy in small amounts or in some cases I only need just one component however had to buy it in a pack of 10 which created a lot of unnecessary waste materials.
*Click on link below for costings section of my on-line portfolio ****
Bee Project
In theory my product would be very cheap to manufacture and buy, Unfortunately as I was just making one I ended up spending a lot more on my product compared to if I was mass producing it. However I still kept costs down as much as possible by shopping around for materials and buying from the internet.
A problem I also had was materials were much more expensive to buy in small amounts or in some cases I only need just one component however had to buy it in a pack of 10 which created a lot of unnecessary waste materials.
*Click on link below for costings section of my on-line portfolio ****
How has my understanding of this section developed during the Bee project?
- being responsible for my acquiring my own materials for my bee product has made me think much more carefully about cost, where I source my materials and was definitely a turning point for this section.
- I have learnt how I can keep costs down not just in terms of how much I am spending on materials but also by controlling the size and weight of a product when designing.
- I can Choose certain materials to help keep costs down such as using waste/recycled materials instead of new ones, and choosing plastics that are very cheap to manufacture and buy.