Products and packaging

Products and packaging.

Task 1.

Did you know …

... that some popular products took 100 years or more to get to the marketplace? In 1485, Leonardo da Vinci made detailed sketches of parachutes. He also sketched studies for a helicopter, tank and retractable landing gear. First helicopter that could carry a person was flown by Paul Cornu at the beginning of twentieth century. During The First World War, tanks were first used in France in 1917. Airplane with retractable landing gear was built in The United States in 1933. Bar codes were invented by Silver and Woodland in 1948. They used a light to read a set of concentric circles, but it was two decades before an advent of computers and lasers made system practical. However, the bar code system in use today is Universal Product Code, introduced by IBM in 1973. First bar-coded items sold were packs of chewing gum in 1974, Computer was launched in 1943, more than 100 years after Charles Babbage designed a first programmable device. In 1998, Science Museum in London built working replica of Babbage machine, using materials and work methods available in the Babbage's time. It worked just as Babbage had intended.

Task 1
1. Competitive

2. attractive, effective, distinctive

3. critical, efficient, limited

4. original, technical

Task 2
1 Packaging is the manufacturer's last chance to seduce

the customer.

2 Many products are identical from the consumer's point

of view.

3 Most purchasing decisions are made at the point of sale

4 The principal problem is a lack of communication between the people involved in the design and development process.

5 There are different groups of experts, all working in their own specialized field

6 Production people know nothing about consumer needs

7 The manufacturing people deal with the technical issues  as and when they arise.

8 Our task forces can deliver an optimal solution in one week, sometimes less.

Task 3

generate - new ideas in focus groups. 

screen out - unfeasible or unprofitable ideas. 

launch - the product onto the market. 

draw up - specifications for the product. 

conduct - market studies. 

draw - sketches and build mockups. 

go into - production on a large scale after tests. 

test - the product by using it in typical situations. 

Task 4

1. 
   Length
   
2. 
   Width
   
3. 
   Height
   
4. 
   Weight
   

Task 5

1 An important, interesting or typical part of something: feature

2 A detailed instruction about how something should be made: specitification.

3 An advantage that you get from something: benefit

4 The job that something is designed to do: function

Task 6

1. Heres the email that arrived this morning.

2. The team leader is an interesting man. He comes from Spain.

The team leader is an interesting man who comes from Spain.

3. The team leader is an interesting man. I met him yesterday

The team leader is an interesting man who I met yesterday.

5. 
   The team leader is an interesting man. His background is in IT
   

The team leader in an interesting man whose background is in IT.