A production line is an organized process of assembling a product using a conveyor belt or other mechanical system. The concept was first used to transform raw products into usable goods and was later used in mass production by Henry Ford. Production lines have streamlined manufacturing, reduced costs, and increased productivity. Automation has further reduced costs and eliminated hazardous work.
A production line, also called an assembly line or factory line, refers to the organized process of assembling a product. In most cases, the production line centers around a conveyor belt or other mechanical system that physically moves product from one station to another, and it is a common misnomer to call this conveyor a production line. At each station in the manufacturing process, a worker or machine adds a part to the finished product, performs quality control, or some other work essential to completing the project.
The first production lines were not used for product assembly. The original production line concept was used to transform raw products, such as cotton fibers, into usable goods by assigning workers individual roles in the process. From this concept was born the automated assembly line used in modern manufacturing.
The production line was first conceptualized by Eli Whitney, but the concept didn’t see its full fruition until 1913, when Henry Ford brought the concept to work in the mass production of automobiles. Using the production line concept, Ford was able to create a moving line of cars in various stages of assembly that passed from factory workers’ stations. As the cars arrived at each station, another component was added and the car was then sent to the next station.
With production lines, mass production became a much easier task and many man hours were eliminated for every automobile produced. This enabled affordable automobiles to be produced at a pace that could keep pace with public demand for the new technology. Witnessing Ford’s success, many other manufacturers began implementing the production line concept in their own organizations, thus making the process the industry standard.
As production lines were further streamlined over the next several years, manufacturers were able to create more advanced technologies and other products using less manpower. Mass production via production line assembly created lower prices and higher quality for the final products of the manufacturing process. In some cases, the production line process has become so streamlined that human workers have been replaced by machines that can further reduce costs and increase productivity. This automation of the process made it possible to remove the human element from hazardous work and use machines to complete tasks that previously required a human worker to risk life or limb.
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