Question

In two detailed paragraphs explain the four types of processes used to produce goods and services.

Answer 1

A company may choose a production process for manufacturing a good or providing a service in lieu of the type of the product or service being produced/offered, the demand of the offering, or on the basis of the supply of the raw materials required for producing the goods or services, among others. On the basis of these aspects and factors, production processes can be classified into below given four types.

1. Job/Unit Type Production

This kind of production involves the manufacturing of a single unit of a given product. The final product or service may be produced by a single worker or a few of them. The production method can be said to be highly inefficient because of the lesser or least number of goods produced, but it is desired when superior product quality is sought. The Job/Unit type of production may be found in the production of wedding cakes or in the manufacturing of the tailored suits. The individual service providers and small businesses use this kind of production process.

2. Batch Type Production

The Batch type production process is used for producing goods in batch. Similar items are produced in form of groups and the production may consist of different stages. In most cases, batch production involves heavy usage of machinery and the workers may participate in the production at its beginning (for feeding the raw materials) and end (for packing) only.

Because of the standardized workflows and processes including Quality Assurance/Control, Batch production and can create a better quality-quantity balance. Batch production may involve a small number of workers and labours, and also promote the use of specialist labour.

We take can take the example here of an electronics company like LG, which may have to produce different types of speakers. The speakers to be produced may include the wired, Bluetooth, and other kinds of speakers. The production here is on the basis of demand, which will determine the batch size. The product may also be produced on the same line or on different lines depending on the variations they have.

3. Flow/Mass Production

Flow or Mass production is one of the most common production methods used for producing goods or services and especially useful in cases where the production goes on 24 by 7. The product itself is built through the different and segregated stages. Because the least number of skilled workers are required in this kind of production, it is financially and cost-effective. The systems may be automated to a great degree and in most cases, the workers are monitors only. This kind of production process is used in steel, chemical, gas and oil, automobile and other industries that use the production approach in a more homogenous manner.

The floor production process is used for standardized products and can produce huge volumes of it. There are a number of workstations involved in the production line and the product may be transferred from one workstation to another. Alternatively, the different workstations maybe producing specialised components of the final product, and the final product may be assembled later. The production process requires huge initial investment and large working capital but proves to be the most cost-effective in the long run. Here, both machine and humans work along with each other.

4. Process or Continuous Production

The process of Continuous production involves the highest usage of machines and the production process goes on 24 x 7 x 365. Brewing as an example of continuous production. The plastic industry also adopts the continuous production processes as the manufacturing goes on for months if there is ample demand. Because the process cannot be stopped once the production starts, this form of production is termed Continuous production. A huge loss will occur if the production process is stopped in a midway. The Continuous production process involves a lot of control.