Production system | Definition, Types, Examples, & Facts (2024)

production system, any of the methods used in industry to create goods and services from various resources.

Underlying principles

All production systems, when viewed at the most abstract level, might be said to be “transformation processes”—processes that transform resources into useful goods and services. The transformation process typically uses common resources such as labour, capital (for machinery and equipment, materials, etc.), and space (land, buildings, etc.) to effect a change. Economists call these resources the “factors of production” and usually refer to them as labour, capital, and land. Production managers have referred to them as the “five M’s”: men, machines, methods, materials, and money.

When viewed as a process, a production system may be further characterized by flows (channels of movement) in the process: both the physical flow of materials, work in the intermediate stages of manufacture (work in process), and finished goods; and the flow of information and the inevitable paperwork that carry and accompany the physical flow. The physical flows are subject to the constraints of the capacity of the production system, which also limits the system’s ability to meet output expectations. Similarly, the capacity of the information-handling channel of the production system may also be an important measure of a system’s output. The management of information flows, or the planning and control of the system to achieve acceptable outputs, is an important task of the production manager.

While the capacity of the system is the major factor in determining whether output expectations can be met, the additional consideration of quality must also be seen as a limiting factor. The quality of a product, measured against some objective standard, includes appearance, performance characteristics, durability, serviceability, and other physical characteristics; timeliness of delivery; cost; appropriateness of documentation and supporting materials; and so on. It is an important part of the definition of a system.

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Types of production systems

There are three common types of basic production systems: the batch system, the continuous system, and the project system. In the batch system, general-purpose equipment and methods are used to produce small quantities of output (goods or services) with specifications that vary greatly from one batch to the next. A given quantity of a product is moved as a batch through one or more steps, and the total volume emerges simultaneously at the end of the production cycle. Examples include systems for producing specialized machine tools or heavy-duty construction equipment, specialty chemicals, and processed food products, or, in the service sector, the system for processing claims in a large insurance company. Batch production systems are often referred to as job shops.

In the continuous system, items to be processed flow through a series of steps, or operations, that are common to most other products being processed. Since large volumes of throughput are expected, specially designed equipment and methods are often used so that lower production costs can be achieved. Frequently the tasks handled by workers are divided into relatively small segments that can be quickly mastered and efficiently performed. Examples include systems for assembling automobile engines and automobiles themselves, as well as other consumer products such as televisions, washing machines, and personal computers. Continuous production systems are often referred to as assembly systems or assembly line systems and, as noted below, are common in mass production operations.

The two types of systems mentioned thus far are often found in combination. In the production of integrated circuits for electronic equipment, for example, thousands of circuits are processed as a batch on several large slices of silicon crystal through dozens, or even hundreds, of processing steps. The tiny circuits, each only a few millimetres on a side, are then separated and individually assembled with other circuit elements on a continuous line to produce the final product.

The third type of production system is the project, or “one-shot” system. For a single, one-of-a-kind product, for example, a building, a ship, or the prototype of a product such as an airplane or a large computer, resources are brought together only once. Because of the singular nature of project systems, special methods of management have been developed to contain the costs of production within reasonable levels.