Manufacturing Business Basics: Top Tips for Picking Your Materials and Processes

Successful businesses implement systematic processes to make the business not just profitable but sustainable. But, as a business owner, you’ve got an amazing array of decisions to make. Which processes should you choose? Which are worthwhile and which can you dump?

Here, we look at some of the fundamentals you need to know, and how to make those decisions without sacrificing quality or efficiency.

Job Production

Job production usually involves just one person. Sometimes, there is a small team of people working together to perform the entire production process. For example, if you run a manufacturing company that makes small parts for machines, or you make handmade items, you might source the raw materials from another company, bring them in, and hand those materials to one person.

This person builds your product from start to finish at a bench or some other production table. Alternatively, a small team might be involved in the building process, each one specializing in a different area of production, but all basically being generalists when it comes to manufacturing the product.

This type of process is slow, but it focuses on the quality aspect and the inherent customizability of handmade products. Shoes, belts, hunting and fishing equipment, or even larger-scale projects like auto manufacturing can be done this way.

A handmade vehicle takes a long time to build, is very expensive, but is often of very high quality. When it’s completed, the customer often has the opportunity to speak with the engineers or the people involved in building it. In that sense, there’s a personal touch that’s not available with batch or mass-produced products.

Batch Processing

Batch processing or batch production involves more specialization. There may be different workers doing different tasks. These are done in “batches” and no one worker is responsible for the assembly of the entire project.

For example, if you were involved in making a vehicle for consumer use, you might assign a person or group of people to stamp the steel, another group of people to assemble the dash, another group of people to assemble parts for the electronics, another group to install the electronics, another group to bolt pieces to the frame and so on.

Worker production is measured in batches, rather than number of finished products.

This results in production efficiency, and efficiency measured by units produced for the final product. For example, a manufacturer making vehicles for consumer use might want to know how many steel doors were stamped in a day. If this number is coordinated with other manufacturing processes, the management can predict how many vehicles can be made in a day.

Flow Production

Flow production processes work similarly to batch processes, except that each step in the process is broken down into even smaller component parts or batches. So, in the vehicle example, instead of a person assembling the electronics, you may have a person inserting one screw, or attaching one circuit board, or inserting all the fuses.

Many of these types of manufacturing processes are done using machines, both because machines tend to be more efficient than humans, but also because they are more accurate and lower cost to maintain.

Flexible Manufacturing Processes

Usually, a comprehensive process is defined and then outsourced to another plant or manufacturing facility to ramp up production or to meet peak demand. In other words, manufacturing is outsourced, either partially or wholly, to another company.

For example, some companies benefit by having additional processes integrated into their own processes. If you manufacturer tools or parts for other companies, you might benefit from powder coating. But, you might lack the facilities or expertise to do this well. You could outsource it – discover more at Reliant Finishing Systems.

Manufacturing Process Management

This is a collection of technologies and other methods that define how products should be manufactured. A central repository is created for the integration of all tools and activities. This helps management, and workers, explore and discover alternative production line scenarios and create efficient subsystems, improving on the original manufacturing process. It can make assembly lines more efficient and reduce costs. It can also make the manufacturing plant much more nimble and adaptable.

Ryan Benson has worked in the manufacturing industry for many years. Now enjoying his semi-retirement, he has discovered a passion for writing articles. These appear on multiple business blogs where he discusses industry topics.