Manufacturing

Manufacturing influences every aspect of our lives, from the buildings we work in and the cars we drive, to the water we get from our kitchen sinks. The term manufacture means to make by hand, and has come to mean the process of changing raw materials into products for people’s use. The growth and increasing use of machinery ushered in the Industrial Revolution, and manufacturing began to grow as a result. As man has discovered and invented more things over the past centuries, the need for manufacturing has increased proportionately.

The desire to eliminate all kinds of waste was one of the principles for the origin of lean Manufacturing. Lean manufacturing started with Eli Whitney’s idea and development of interchangeable parts. Then Henry Ford took that idea and made the assembly line to mass produce cars, which in turn encouraged the Toyota company to develop and improve their own manufacturing concepts. The three main kinds of waste the Toyota company was striving to eliminate include muda, which is work being done that does not add any value to the product, muri, which is when humans as well as machines are expected to work beyond their natural capabilities, and mura, which deals with anything hindering smooth operations and flow in work. Just In Time Manufacturing is a branch of lean manufacturing and focuses on having just the right amount of merchandise in stock as is needed, thus eliminating waste as well.

Good manufacturing practices are what have helped form the industrial world as we know it today. Proper manufacturing gets the right products to the proper places in the correct quantities and at the right time.