Explain Manufacturing Methods?

Production can be defined as the conversion process of the input to the output, resulting in the production of the goods and the services.

Basically, a manufacturing system mainly involves three parts or steps – inputs, transformation process and output. The operations and activities used together lead to the production of goods and services, and this whole process is referred to as the manufacturing system or method. A manufacturing method can be considered as the combination of the sub systems which are independent in nature and each subsystem is responsible for performing a particular function. Manufacturers must be able to interact not only with the external environment but also with the internal environment.

Factors affecting the choice of manufacturing method can be summarized as follows: –
1. Effect of volume and variety – These factors greatly influence the choice of the manufacturing method as high product variety will have to be accompanied with very good workers having developed skills and general purpose machines; on the other hand low product variety leads to the usage of workers who are not that much skilled, accompanied with very simple systems of production planning and control.

2. Capacity of the plant – First of all, the company has to decide whether it has to go with intermittent process or the continuous process and this decision is very closely driven by the projected sales volume.

3. Flexibility – In order to produce more variety, the facilities for manufacturing should be communized as the flexibility implies the company’s ability to fulfill the requirements of the customers.

4. Lead Time – It can be defined as the total time that is taken, starting from the placement of the order for the products up to the time the products are delivered to the customers. In today’s world, where the markets have become very much competitive in nature, everyone expects quick delivery.

Classification of the manufacturing methods
1. Project Production – It involves all those activities that are very critical in nature and are very necessary to be performed during a particular time and also by a particular method or in a particular order. In this type of method, the expenditure factor should also be taken care of. Ships, locomotive, aircraft, roads, buildings etc. constitute towards the product of a project production which is unique and also non repetitive in nature.

2. Jobbing Production – Involves the production of one or few pieces of a product at a time, and the production is strictly according to the demands of the customers. Discontinuous flow of the materials takes place involving highly skilled workers in presence of very knowledgeable supervision.

3. Batch Production – Involves short runs of production in the presence of skilled workers in specific trades with manual material handling. In batch production, ‘limited span of control’ characterizes the whole scenario.

4. Mass and Flow Production – It is characterized by continuous flow of materials but is not supported with skilled worker facility. Has short manufacturing cycle time with limited work in progress under easy supervision, and this method is also characterized with lesser flexibility in production schedules.