Manufacturing

Manufacturing can be viewed as an entire industry, which integrates the collective efforts of specialized industries, such as raw materials refinement, research and development, drafting, engineering and machining. These industries each doing their part, will collectively be part of an effort to solve a problem, improve upon something, or merely carry out the request of a paying customer. Manufacturing is the creation of something useful or necessary for a challenge that exists now or will exist in the near future.

Manufacturing is a multi-stage process. Before something can be manufactured, there must be raw materials to create it. Manufacturing begins with the procurement of materials. Those materials are then fashioned into something that serves a purpose.

Research and development, engineering, drafting (CAD), machining and assembly then cooperate to create the requested product of the customer. The plans created from drafting are described with standard terms so they are understandable by others in the manufacturing process.

Once the drawings of the idea have been converted into physical components, assembly occurs and the finished product is called a prototype. The prototype is put through tests, assessed, and reviewed to conclude whether the prototype solves the problem it was designed to solve. If the prototype has critical flaws, they are addressed and corrected. If the conclusion is affirmative, the prototype will then be put into full-scale production. If the combination of many industries working in concert to create finished, salable product, makes up the manufacturing process.