Product Analysis practice questions.

A team is about to strip a rival food mixer and has to be able to rebuild it afterwards. Which working practice makes the disassembly record usable for reassembly?

• Weigh the complete product before any fastening is removed
• Photograph each fastening in place and number the parts as they come off
• Remove every fastener first, then sort the loose parts into material groups
• Record only the components that would be replaced during a routine service

Answer: Photograph each fastening in place and number the parts as they come off

The record has to carry the assembly sequence and the seat of every fastening, and both are lost the moment the parts lie in a heap. Sorting by material is a later step that destroys exactly the order the analysis set out to capture.

A visual analysis of two kettles has to be repeatable, so that a second analyst working from the same record arrives at the same description. Which recording method best supports this?

• Ask ten shoppers in the store to say which of the two kettles they prefer
• Write a free paragraph on each kettle describing the impression it makes
• Photograph both from the same viewpoints and annotate the same elements
• Copy the description of each kettle from the manufacturer's own website

Answer: Photograph both from the same viewpoints and annotate the same elements

Repeatability comes from fixing the viewing conditions and the checklist, so that any difference between the two records belongs to the products and not to the analyst. Impressions and shopper preferences change with the person and cannot be reproduced.

An ergonomic audit of a cordless drill contains the entry: the grip is 38 mm in diameter. Why is this entry incomplete as an audit finding?

• Because a diameter cannot be measured reliably on a curved moulded surface
• Because grip dimensions have to be recorded in centimetres, not millimetres
• Because the mass of the drill has to be recorded on the same line of the audit
• Because no user hand dimension is given for the figure to be judged against

Answer: Because no user hand dimension is given for the figure to be judged against

A measured value is only half of an audit entry; without the hand data of the intended users there is nothing that decides whether 38 mm is right or wrong. The measurement itself is sound, and units or repeats are not what makes the entry unusable.

Two cordless drills from different manufacturers are to be compared for the number of screws each drives on one battery charge. Which step is essential if the comparison is to be valid?

• Take each manufacturer's published figure for screws per charge
• Let a different tester operate each drill so that no single person's technique is carried across the two products
• Test the heavier drill first so that operator fatigue cannot affect its result
• Drive the same screw into the same material with both drills, each starting from a full charge

Answer: Drive the same screw into the same material with both drills, each starting from a full charge

A comparative analysis is only meaningful when every variable except the product itself is held constant, so screw, workpiece and starting charge must match. Published figures are measured under unknown conditions, and changing the tester introduces a second variable.

A teardown of a wall clock finds the two case halves held together by four moulded snap fits that release under a flat blade, no adhesive anywhere in the product, and an identification code moulded into each polymer part. Which design strategy do these findings provide evidence for?

• Planned obsolescence
• Design for disassembly
• Design from a single material only
• Design for a high impact load

Answer: Design for disassembly

Joints that can be released without breaking anything, together with marked polymers, are the classic indicators that the product was meant to be taken apart and its materials separated at end of life. The moulded codes serve sorting at the recycler and say nothing about how many polymers the product contains, so they neither support nor rule out a single-material strategy.

During an ergonomic audit of a ride-on mower, the seated operator has to release the steering wheel and lean sideways to move the blade-height lever. Which finding does this observation support?

• The lever gives the operator no feedback when the cutting height changes
• The lever demands a grip force greater than most operators can produce
• The lever sits outside the reach envelope of the seated operator
• The steering wheel is mounted too low for the seated operator

Answer: The lever sits outside the reach envelope of the seated operator

Having to leave the driving posture to reach a control is the definition of a control placed beyond the seated reach envelope. Nothing in the observation concerns the force needed at the lever or the information the machine returns to the operator.