OCR · Design and Technology · J310
GCSE Design and Technology: How can cost and availability of specific materials and/or system components affect their
Viability of design solutions · OCR GCSE Design and Technology (J310), specification point 8.1. Cards are generated from the exam board's own specification for "How can cost and availability of specific materials and/or system components affect their", and every card links back to the page it came from. Specification © OCR — used with attribution.
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What does it mean for a product to be commercially viable?
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It can be manufactured and sold at a profit — the selling price covers all costs, including materials and components, with margin left over.
Why does the cost of a material matter for a product's commercial viability?
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Material cost is part of the production cost; if it is too high, the product cannot be sold at a profit at a price customers will pay.
What is meant by a product's marketability?
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How readily it can be sold to its target market — how attractive it is to customers at its price.
How can choosing an expensive material reduce a product's marketability?
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It pushes up the selling price, making the product less attractive to customers compared with cheaper competitors.
Why might a designer reject a material that is hard to source?
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Poor availability can delay production, push up cost and make supply unreliable, so a more readily available alternative is chosen.
Why might different stakeholders disagree about how much to spend on materials?
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A manufacturer wants low material cost to protect profit, while the end user may want a higher-quality, more durable material even at a higher price.
Name three things a designer must calculate about materials when costing a product.
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The quantities, sizes and cost of the materials or components required.
How is the total material cost of a product calculated?
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Multiply the quantity of each material or component by its unit cost, then add the results together.
Why must a designer calculate the sizes of material needed, not just the quantity?
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To know how much stock material to buy and how to cut it, minimising waste — which directly affects cost.
A product that can be made and sold at a profit is described as ?.
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commercially viable
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