Mass Production Essay

649 Words3 Pages
Mass Production Mass production is the large-scale production of goods in factories. Originally, craftsmen in home workshops made very small numbers of products. But, the increasing demand for consumer goods following the industrial revolution meant that larger numbers of products needed to be manufactured in a more efficient way. To facilitate the mass production process, organisation of the following factors is necessary. 1. A division of labour, where the manufacturing process is broken down into small-specialised tasks that each worker carries out over and over again. 2. The standardisation of parts across a number of products so that large numbers can be made cheaply and efficiently. 3. The development of machinery to perform standardised tasks and produce components. 4. The production process needs to be designed to efficiently integrate the machine processes and human tasks. The best-known example of a mass production process was the assembly line developed by Henry Ford to manufacture the Model T Ford in 1913. Advantages of mass production • efficiency of production: less time is taken to produce goods • 'economies of scale': cheaper to make products in large quantities • workers only need to be trained in one or two tasks. Disadvantages of mass production • boredom for the workers • occupational overuse syndrome (repetitive strain injury) • low job satisfaction for workers • large stock piles of raw materials waiting to be processed • large stock piles of finished goods waiting to be sold • difficult to change the product's design quickly to respond to changing styles and consumer demand. These disadvantages, especially the last three points, have led to a change in direction for manufacturers to try and be more responsive to changes in the marketplace. The development of 'just in time' (JIT) manufacturing has evolved
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