Technology – Manufacturing Technology
In this era of globalization, rarely is a product completely manufactured in a single location. Information networks are intricately tied with international production systems.
Many simple components are manufactured in multiple locations around the world and then assembled in another location to make a final product, such as a computer, an automobile, or an airplane. Logistics, conservation of resources, and protection of the environment are all vital to the production process.
Technology – The Production Process
While the optimization of labor, automation, and computerization contributes greatly to production in modern factories, in many individual production still continues manually and on a smaller scale.
The steps of the production process are the same in any industry. Workers use tools and other mechanical equipment to shape and form individual elements in order to build a finished product. This finished product is put through quality control tests, transported, stored, and finally sold to consumers-local, abroad, or both.
Throughout this process end-of-life products and waste materials must be dealt with through either recycling or reuse, in compliance with local regulations.
Process optimization
There are many factors that need to be considered to optimize the production process. The amount of working capital needed for wages and raw materials and the quantity and quality of goods to be produced are the first factors to be decided. To manufacture these goods, it is important to determine whether it is cost effective to make each component, or purchase it (make or buy). If buying components, timing the supply correctly can save storage costs (just-in-time inventory strategy).
The manufacturing run is another important decision. Is it more cost effective to produce large quantities of the same product (mass production), smaller quantities of the same product (batch production), or unique items (custom-made production)? Cost-effective delivery requires access to roads, railways, and other transportation. Any technology used in production should be flexible enough to allow the company to manufacture and deliver a product to a customer’s exact requirements.
While the coordination of all the aspects of the production process is never easy, comparing processes that other companies use (process benchmarking) can help determine what will optimize efficiency within an operation.
MANUFACTURING
When a product undergoes a manual process of production, even if machinery and assembly lines are used, it is manufactured (Latin: manus (“hand”) and factura (“production ‘)
To produce a large quantity of high-quality units within a short timeframe, the production process is subdivided into steps performed by different workers using different machines.
Certain articles of a higher value, such as porcelain figures and musical instruments, are still manufactured entirely by hand.