Methods of manufacturing - CCEA

What does this article on methods of manufacturing cover?

Production types: Job (customised), batch (sets), and flow/process (continuous, automated).

Pros and cons: Job is bespoke but costly; batch offers variety but less flexibility; flow/process is efficient but expensive and less personalised.

Productivity: Use a mix of methods, invest in machinery, incentivise workers, provide training, and encourage efficiency ideas.

Technology: Increases output, consistency, and cost-effectiveness, but must balance costs, quality, and flexibility.

What are production processes?

Businesses providing goods can choose from three different types of production process. These are job production, batch production and flow production.

What is job production?

Job production is when individual products are made one at a time to meet specific customer preferences. An example would be tailor-made suits, which are made specifically to each customer’s measurements and tastes.

What is batch production?

Batch production involves making a set quantity of identical products. This quantity is known as a ‘batch’. The batch size could be ten, 10,000 or a million identical products. An example would be a bakery making a batch of 100 white bread rolls and then making a batch of 50 wholemeal bread rolls.

What is flow production?

Flow production involves continuously making identical products. This allows the production process to be heavily automated.

What is process production

Similar to flow production, in that the product is normally made in bulk quantities through a continuous process. Process manufacturing requires blending of chemicals or ingredients rather than attaching distinct parts together.

For example:

• chemicals

• food

• drinks

• petrol

• paint

• pharmaceuticals

• cosmetics

Advantages and disadvantages of each type of production

Businesses often use a combination of job production, batch production and flow production. For example, a bakery might use batch production to bake a batch of cakes but then use job production to ice the cakes to each customer’s preferences.

One major reason a business might choose one production process over another relates to productivity. Productivity is a measure of efficiency. It can be measured in products produced per worker, per day, month or year.

A business can improve productivity in various ways:

• investing in up-to-date machinery – This can help workers to produce more products in the same length of time. It can also reduce the need for employees by replacing them with automated machinery.

• providing incentives to encourage workers to work harder and faster – There are several ways this can be achieved, such as through promotion opportunities or pay incentives.

• providing training to staff to improve their skills so they can work more efficiently.

• encouraging staff to come up with time-saving ideas that allow them to work more efficiently – Many businesses have suggestion boxes where staff can provide ideas on how the business could operate better.

Being more productive enables businesses to keep their costs per unit as low as possible. This means they can price their goods or services more competitively or increase their profit margins.

Technology has a big impact on businesses, in terms of both updating existing products and finding new ways of manufacturing products. Technology benefits businesses as it allows them to produce higher quantities, make products more consistent and be more cost-effective.

Businesses try to use technology in a balanced way so that its disadvantages don’t outweigh its many advantages. They need to balance:

Costs- Technology costs money to purchase but reduces the cost of producing products. For example, using machinery to complete dangerous tasks means a business no longer needs to pay the higher wage costs associated with risky jobs. This both reduces costs and improves employee health.

Productivity - Using machinery to mechanise or automate parts of the production process leads to an increase in productivity. This means a business can either reduce its prices to remain competitive or increase its profit margins.

Quality - Businesses need to be consistent in the quality of the products they produce. Mechanising or automating parts of production can help with this.

Flexibility - Businesses often need to balance technology with human flexibility. Automation is good for mass production but it doesn’t work so well for products that will be personalised to meet individual customers’ preferences. For example, in the luxury car industry, customers have a wide variety of optional extras to choose from, which may need to be hand-finished.

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