Areas of Manufacturing

Manufacturing might be considered in three broad areas:

(i) Continuous process production,

(ii) Mass production, and

(iii) Job-shop production.

Among these three, mass production and job-shop production might be categorized as discrete- item production.

Continuous Process Production

Such type of product flows constantly in the manufacturing system, for example petroleum, cement, steel rolling, petrochemical & paper production etc. Equipment utilized here are only applicable for small group of similar products.

Mass Production

It includes the production of discrete unit at very high rate of speed. Discrete item production is utilized for goods such as automobiles, televisions, refrigerators, electronic component etc. Mass production consists of the character of continuous process production for discrete products. That's why; mass production has realized vast benefits from automation & mechanization.

Job Shop Production

A manufacturing facility that generates a large number of different discrete items and requires different sequences among the production equipments is called as job shop. Scheduling & routine problems are the essential features of job shop. Consequently automation has at best been restricted to individual component of job shop. But there have been few attempts in the area of total automation.