Scale of Production

One-off Production
1. 'Tailor-made' bespoke or customised solutions
2. It is a single, high-cost product that is manufactured to a clients specification
3. Often very high cost because a premium has to be paid for any unique features, more exclusive/ expensive and time consuming hand-crafted production and finishing.
4. Prototype and architectural models, shop signage, vinyl stickers for commercial vehicles
5. Advantages
  1. Made to exact personal specifications
  2. High-quality materials used
  3. Highly skilled craftsperson ensures high quality product
6. Disadvantages
  1. Expensive final product in comparison to larger scales of production
  2. Generally labour intensive and can be a relatively time-consuming process
Batch Production
1. Involves the manufacture of identical products in specified, pre-determined 'batches', varying for 10 to 1000's
2. A key feature of Batch production is flexibility of tooling, machinery and workforce to enable fast turnaround, so production can be quickly adapted to manufacture a different product, depending on demand
3. Often makes use of flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) to enable companies to be competitive and efficient
4. The use of computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) systems involving automated machinery enables production 'downtime' to be kept to a minimum
5. Batch production results in a lower unit cost than one-off production
6. Economies of scale in materials buying enables cost savings and identical batches of consistently high-quality products are manufactured a competitive costs
7. Advantages
  1. Flexibility in adapting production to another product
  2. Fast response to market trends
  3. Identical batches of products produced
  4. Efficient manufacturing systems can be employed
  5. Very good economies of scale in bulk buying of materials
  6. Lower unit costs
8. Disadvantages
  1. Poor production planning can result in large quantities of products having to be stored, incurring storage costs
  2. Frequent changes in production can cause costly re-tooling, reflected in retail price
9. Commercially printed materials; magazines and newspapers
10. Batch Production in short-term print runs (e.g. full colour brochure)
  1. Preparation: Pre-press
    1. Colour separation of images into Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black (CMYK)
    2. Production of 4 printer negatives for making printing plates
    3. Plate-making machines produces four colour printing plates (CMYK)
    4. Quality control of printing plates and colour proofs
  2. Processing/ Production
    1. Full-colour printing process, e.g. offset lithographic printing
    2. Application of in-line surface finish, e.g. lamination, spot varnishing, etc
    3. Quality control using printers' marks, i.e. colour bars and registration
  3. Assembly
    1. Trimming pages to correct size on guillotine using crop marks
    2. Double pages folded down the spine
    3. Pages collated and bound using saddle-wire stitching
    4. Final quality-control check of finished product
  4. Finishing
    1. Collation of multiple brochures, packing into corrugated board boxes and sealing
    2. Multiple boxes palletised and shrink-wrapped ready for distribution
Mass Production
1. Mass production (or high volume production) of most consumer products makes use of efficient automated manufacturing processes abd a largely low skilled workforce
2. The workforce is specialised and divided up in specific tasks with labour to match
3. Products designed to follow market trends, therefore the product must appeal to a wide national and international target market
4. Quality control helps the manufacture of identical products
5. Production costs are kept as low as possible so the product will provide value for money
6. Advantages
  1. Highly automated and efficient manufacturing processes
  2. Specialisation of workforce to specific tasks
  3. Rigorous quality control ensures identical goods
  4. Excellent economies of scale in bulk buying of materials
  5. Increased production means that set-up costs are quickly recovered
  6. Low unit costs
  7. Reduced labour costs
7. Disadvantages
  1. Low-skilled workforce - low wages, repetitive nature of tasks leading to job disatisfaction
  2. Ethical concerns of manufacturing in developing countries i.e. sweat shops
  3. High initial set-up costs due to very expensive machinery and tooling needs
  4. Inflexible - cannot respond quickly to market trends
8. Electronic products; mobile phones, games consoles commercial packaging
Continuous Production
1. Continuous production is used to manufacture standardised mass-produced products that meet everyday mass-market demand
2. This type of production is highly automated and uses machines that can run continuously for long periods of time with breaks only for routine maintenance
3. Advantages
  1. Extremely low unit costs
  2. Runs continuously 24 hours, 7 days a week
  3. Reduced labour costs
  4. Increased production means that set-up costs are quickly recovered
  5. Excellent economies of scale in bulk buying of materials
  6. Rigorous quality control ensures identical goods
  7. Specialisation of workforce to specific tasks
  8. Highly automated and efficient manufacturing processes
4. Disadvantages
  1. Very little flexibility at all as production set-up 24/7
  2. Inflexible - cannot respond quickly to market trends
  3. High initial set-up costs due to very expensive machinery and tooling needs
  4. Ethical concerns of manufacturing in developing countries i.e. sweat shops
  5. Low-skilled workforce - low wages, repetitive nature of tasks leading to job disatisfaction
5. Packaging; cans and bottles for the drinks industry

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Scale of Production

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