Industrial practices

Industrial practices are the designing and manufacturing processes used by manufacturers to ensure that products are made efficiently and at a profit for satisfied consumers. Industrial practices bring together a number of different people and roles, and you need to understand what each of them does and how they relate to each other.

The client

The client's role is to identify the need for a product (perhaps commissioning some market researchmarket research: Market research is the gathering of data or information concerning consumer opinions about a product or service), drawing up a design brief [design brief: a set of instructions given to a designer by a client. ] for the designer, setting production deadlines and the price of the product. The client is usually a manufacturer or retailer.

The designer

The designer's role is to agree the design brief, and then research market trends, fabrics and processes - taking into account any relevant societal, cultural, moral or safety issues to ensure the product is right. The designer will work on a design specification [design specification: document containing details of a product's required characteristics, and all the processes, materials and other information needed to design the product ], produce a costing for the product, and help plan the product's manufacture.

The manufacturer

The manufacturer's role is to look any models or prototypes [prototypes: one-off working models of a product to find out if the idea works. ] made by the designer, and work out the most efficient way of manufacturing the product. They will then produce a production plan and a work schedule [work schedule: a written breakdown of the processes needed to manufacture a product. ]. During manufacture their aim will be to keep material and labour costs down, while producing a high-quality, safe product on schedule in a safe environment.

The user/consumer

The user or consumer's role is to demand a high-quality, value-for-money product, which meets their requirements, is enjoyable to wear, and is safe. Oh yes - and to pay for it when it comes to market.