PDC LIFE CYCLE Jack Major

ATEST_1 | investigation task

STAGES ANALYSIS
 THE LIFE CYCLE
• The product life cycle has two distinct categories:
• Product Life Cycle (PLC) | performance of the product in the market, and its market share
• Product Development Cycle (PDC) | planning, development and evaluation of a product

This project will be focussing on the Product Development Cycle

 Recycle, Re-
Materials
use and
Acquisition
Disposal

THE LIFE
Materials
CYCLE | 7 Maintenance
Processing

STAGES
Transport Manufacturing

Packaging
STAGE 1 | MATERIALS ACQUISITION

Materials acquisition refers to the It covers the processes of It is damaging to the environment
processes required to acquire all of the - Mining because it detracts from it and takes
materials needed to produce the - Farming resources out of the environment
product. - Separating from recycled previous products without adequate compensation.
 STAGE 1 | MATERIALS
ACQUISITION | PHONE
• Many materials are required to produce a
phone.
• This chart by Statista demonstrates the
variety of materials required to make a
phone function properly.
• All of these materials are needed to be
taken out of the earth, detracting from it.
• Mining has a negative social stigma
associated with it due to environmental
concerns.
• All quantities are relatively low so price for
the goods is lower than the price for
extracting them, costing the environment
 Resources must be refined in order to
be able to be used to manufacture
the goods.

STAGE 2 |
MATERIALS Refining resources provides labour
intensive work for people.
PROCESSING

Common outputs from processing

resources include fly ash from
burning coal and heat, both of which
are detrimental to the environment
STAGE 2 | MATERIALS PROCESSING | PHONE

Main components for phones are metals, plastics and According to a study done by ISuppli an Iphone 4S cost
glass $188 to produce with approximately $93 for wages

Glass is produced through smelting sand, which must first be removed from This equates to approximately $1.7 an hour for workers, meaning that they
the environment are extremely underpaid
All of the ores must be refined in factories which occupy large blocks of
land and use lots of energy
Plastic is formed from coal, and crude oil, which are both detrimental to the
environment
STAGE 3 | MANUFACTURING
Manufacturing refers to the processes of Primary and Secondary Manufacturing
converting the raw materials into useful Processes
products
Primary Manufacturing Processes | Initial conversion
of materials into semi-final products
Secondary Manufacturing Processes | Machining
and Forming Processes
Hot and Cold Forming Processes
Hot Forming Processes | High temperature
processes, above recrystallisation temperature
Cold Forming Processes | Low temerpature
processes, below recrystallisation temperature
STAGE 3 |
MANUFACTURING
An Iphone 4s cost almost $200 to
produce, with processing and
refining of materials, coupled with
wages for workers, with modern
phones costing more and more

The program “Nighline” on ABC

found that the average wage of
$1.7 takes place in the Chinese
factories where Apple products
are made

Society constantly pushes

manufacturing processes to be
less environmentally harmful
STAGE 4 | PACKAGING

• Packaging refers to the encompassing of a product with the intention of selling it.
• The most common materials used for packaging are:
• Paper, paperboard, cardboard | Paper can be bad for the environment if it is produced from trees, but ethical
alternative methods of production ensure that it can be beneficial for the environment
• Plastic | Plastic is very bad for the environment as it is very slow to deteriorate and reintegrate into the
environment
• Wrapping Tissue | very flimsy and deteriorates quickly, and is made out of paper
• Wood Wool | extremely good for the environment, made out of wood
 STAGE 4 | • Most common packaging for phones is
• cardboard which is good for the environment and
PACKAGING | • Styrofoam which is bad for the environment as it is made out of
PHONE plastic and does not deteriorate
STAGE 5| TRANSPORT

• Transport covers all aspects of transport across the life cycle of the product
• Extraction of resources utilises diggers and conveyor belts which transfer the good to lorries and trucks
• Refinement of resources utilises conveyor belts when processing the resources
• Transport utilises aeroplanes, trucks and ships to transport the goods from manufacturing plants to shops
• All of these methods utilise lots of petroleum to power all of the vehicles transporting goods
• Aeroplanes are very fast, but have limited storage capacity and travel capacity
• Trucks have extremely small capability but have a wide range of accessibility
STAGE 5 | TRANSPORT
• The 5 most used transport mechanisms are
• freight trucks
• Delivery trucks
• Cargo ships
• Planes
• Trains
• Conventionally, these vehicles are
powered by finite resources such as
petroleum, which is detracting from the
environment and costing extra.
 Operation and It encompasses Production of Other aspects such as Energy is expended,
maintenance refers to - Warranty additional products support services detracting from the
all of the activities - Replacement parts costs additional require wages and man environment
needed to run and - Customer support
resources and man hours for staff to assist
maintain a product hours
- Troubleshooting
- Fixing faults

STAGE 6 | MAINTENANCE
 • Phones are constantly being replaced, with people constantly
demanding newer models as a replacement
• Tech is constantly updated
• Means that support services constantly have to evolve increasing
STAGE 6 | costs

MAINTENANCE • Class divide created due to technological advancement divide

between different people with different incomes
• According to a study done by PCWorld, the average cost of
maintaining a phone for a period of 2 years is approximately
$3,800 with regard to the 5 most popular phone models
STAGE 6 |
MAINTENANCE
• Phones are constantly being replaced, with
people constantly demanding newer models as
a replacement
• According to the graph, more cell phones
are constantly being purchased instead
of landline phones placing more stress
on support services
• Tech is constantly updated
• Means that support services constantly
have to evolve increasing costs
• Class divide created due to technological
advancement divide between different people
with different incomes
• According to a study done by PCWorld, the
average cost of maintaining a phone for a
period of 2 years is approximately $3,800 with
regard to the 5 most popular phone models
STAGE 7 | RECYCLE, RE-USE and DISPOSAL

Disposal Re-use Recycle

A product is transported to landfill
where it resides until it
deteriorates.
A product is modified in order to
continue fulfilling it’s purpose
A product is broken down into it’s
individual components in order
for them to be used again.
Components that cannot be re-
used are disposed of.
STAGE 7 | RECYCLE, RE-USE and DISPOSAL | PHONE

A phone is very costly for the
environment
Due to the limited quantity of
resources in a phone, recycling
and separation of resources is
extremely costly, and not a
popular option in today’s
society.
For every one million cell
phones that are recycled, the
EPA states that 35,274 pounds
of copper, 772 pounds of
silver, 75 pounds of gold and
33 pounds of palladium can be
recovered.
As an alternative, a more If those phones had an average
popular option is disposal. value of $50 each than this
According to the EPA, over would equate to over
152,000,000 phones were $7,500,000,000
thrown away and disposed of
in 2010, equating to 350,000 a
day, with figures rising every
year.