Mass production uses time-saving techniques like assembly lines to create many products quickly, reducing labor costs and allowing for lower prices. Before this, craftsmen built products from start to finish. Assembly lines have led to faster production but also to overskill and repetitive stress syndrome. Robotics are increasingly taking over mass assembly jobs.
Mass production is the creation of many products in a short period of time using time-saving techniques such as assembly lines and specialization. It allows a manufacturer to produce more per man-hour and reduce the labor cost of the final product. This in turn allows you to sell the product at a lower cost.
Before mass production techniques became widespread, a craftsman built a product from start to finish. This meant that he had to know all aspects of product assembly, including the creation of individual parts. An artisan cabinetmaker, for example, should be able to cut and finish individual pieces, put them together, affix hardware, and create any decorative effects such as marquetry or inlay work that the finished piece might require. Using mass production techniques, one worker might be responsible for cutting the boards, another for finishing them to size, a third for building the shelving hardware, and so on.
Mass production began during the Industrial Revolution, but took a big step forward with the innovation of the assembly line, a conveyor that moved product from one worker to another, with each individual adding his share of specialty to the whole growing. On an assembly line, each worker only needed to know how to fit or adjust a specific part and thus could keep on hand only those tools and parts needed for his specific job.
Assembly lines have resulted in a significant reduction in time of a finished product, but have been followed by some less pleasant consequences. Overskill meant that individual workers had less marketable skills, which made them slaves to a specific line. Mass production has also led to a higher incidence of repetitive stress syndrome; the repeated motions of doing the same task hundreds of times a day have led many workers to suffer most of the time. Increasingly, mass assembly jobs are being taken over by special purpose robotics, freeing many workers from the often backbreaking work, but resulting in fewer jobs for competitors to compete for.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
