Product Introduction
This page will provide the life cycle of a pencil and the timeline in which the pencil travels through 5 distinct steps.
Timeline
1. Raise and Extract
Certain raw materials are needed such as a wood that is strong enough so that it will not break under the writer's hand yet soft enough to sharpen, in many cases pencil manufacturers use cedar. Red cedar was originally a favorite for making pencils but the use of incense cedar has become more predominant. Then the graphite and clay must be extracted from mines. In many cases, pencils also contain aluminum, brass, and a small rubber eraser. Aluminum is extracted by the process of electrolysis. Brass and rubber are made of even more raw materials.
2. Process
The "lead" part of the pencil is not lead at all. It is a combination of finely ground graphite and clay mixed with water and compressed together at very high temperatures to form the thin rods that go inside the wood of the pencil. For the wood part of the pencil, most factories use pre-made forms that will be used to "sandwich" the pieces of graphite in between.
3. Manufacture
Pre-made wooden slabs are placed on a conveyor belt and evenly cut with parallel semi-circles. Half of the slabs are applied with glue and given graphite to fill the semi-circles. The other half of the slabs are turned over, and then placed on top of the slabs with glue and graphite. These are then clamped together and left to dry. Once dried, they are put back onto a conveyor belt that goes through a bottom and a top cutter. Each cutter works to form the hexagonal shape of the pencils. The pencils are then sanded and varnish/ paint is applied by more machines. Finally, the erasers are attached to the pencil by a round metal case called a ferrule.
4. Use
Pencils are used for many different things; drawing, taking notes, writing an essay, or even taking a test. Pencils are used in all schools and almost every workplace. Pencils are very important to our everyday lives, however with electronics taking over, they have become less popular.
5. Dispose
Many people just throw away pencils when they become too small to write with. Some people come up with creative ways to use recycled pencils, but it's hard to do much with something that is that small, unless you have a whole lot of them. Pencils that are thrown away will probably end up in landfills with most of the other trash or possibly burned, as they are mostly made of wood.
Creative Ways to Recycle or Reuse:
Sources:
http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2014/06/vases-constructed-from-hundreds-of-pencils-by-studio-markunpoika/
https://laughingsquid.com/pencilism-federico-uribes-incredible-sculptures-made-out-of-colored-pencils/
https://inhabitat.com/?s=found+objects
https://prezi.com/adtylopk-vux/product-life-cyclepencil/
http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2014/06/vases-constructed-from-hundreds-of-pencils-by-studio-markunpoika/
https://laughingsquid.com/pencilism-federico-uribes-incredible-sculptures-made-out-of-colored-pencils/
https://inhabitat.com/?s=found+objects
https://prezi.com/adtylopk-vux/product-life-cyclepencil/
Conclusion Questions
a. Product lifecycle means the life of a product, beginning with its raw materials, ending with it being thrown away, and everything in between.
b. Companies need to know a product's potential life cycle because they need to know how much of a product to make and how fast they need to make it, and this could influence their choice of materials used to make the product.
c. I would make something like a mechanical pencil so that you don't have to keep sharpening it and it won't get smaller.
d. I think the pencil will become obsolete over time because technology is the future and eventually everything will be done online, not by hand.
e. A trade-off is a compromise made between two desirable but incompatible features.
f. I do not think any trade-offs were made when making the pencil, it is a pretty simple object.
g. It is important to recycle because we don't have an unlimited supply of everything and we can't continue to make new things at the rate that we are, because eventually we are going to run out, so we need to reuse what we already have.
h. Product designers can create products that use or promote recycled materials
I. As a society, we need to all make wholesome efforts to recycle if we want anything to really change at all
j. As an engineer or an inventor, I can help by thinking of new ways to recycle different objects or just find ways to more sustainably do things
b. Companies need to know a product's potential life cycle because they need to know how much of a product to make and how fast they need to make it, and this could influence their choice of materials used to make the product.
c. I would make something like a mechanical pencil so that you don't have to keep sharpening it and it won't get smaller.
d. I think the pencil will become obsolete over time because technology is the future and eventually everything will be done online, not by hand.
e. A trade-off is a compromise made between two desirable but incompatible features.
f. I do not think any trade-offs were made when making the pencil, it is a pretty simple object.
g. It is important to recycle because we don't have an unlimited supply of everything and we can't continue to make new things at the rate that we are, because eventually we are going to run out, so we need to reuse what we already have.
h. Product designers can create products that use or promote recycled materials
I. As a society, we need to all make wholesome efforts to recycle if we want anything to really change at all
j. As an engineer or an inventor, I can help by thinking of new ways to recycle different objects or just find ways to more sustainably do things