Mass production facts for kids
If an item is produced in large quantities, this is usually called mass production. The item produced is called product, and it is usually made in a factory. The items produced will all be the same type. The process of making large quantities will usually require the use of standardized products or product groups. It also depends heavily on interchangeable parts.
Today, machines are often used to mass produce such items. Using division of labour, a greater number of items can be produced. Adam Smith used the example of a needle: With division of labour, it is possible to produce more needles in the same time. Frederick Winslow Taylor, the father of Taylorism also used the division of labour: he wanted to divide the tasks into planning tasks, and execution.
Images for kids
-
Sometimes production in series has obvious benefits, as is the case with this 5-sickle casting mold from the Bronze Age on show at a museum in Yekaterinburg, Russia.
-
This woodcut from 1568 shows the left printer removing a page from the press while the one at right inks the text-blocks. Such a duo could reach 14,000 hand movements per working day, printing around 3,600 pages in the process.
-
A pulley block for rigging on a sailing ship. By 1808, annual production in Portsmouth reached 130,000 blocks.
-
Mass production of Consolidated B-32 Dominator airplanes at Consolidated Aircraft Plant No. 4, near Fort Worth, Texas, during World War II.
-
The assembly plant of the Bell Aircraft Corporation in 1944. Note parts of overhead crane at both sides of photo near top.
-
Ford assembly line, 1913. The magneto assembly line was the first.
See also
In Spanish: Producción en cadena para niños
