5.2 Operations Methods

Job production refers to the production of unique items that are tailor-made to meet the needs of individual customers. The products are highly specialised and often unique. Highly skilled workers produce a single good or provide a service to one customer at a time. Producing these goods and services is usually a very labour-intensive process.

Job Production Example:

Royal Wedding: How to dress a Royal groom - BBC News

Hair Cuts

Batch production involves producing items in groups of identical products. Small changes are made in each batch so that a range of customers’ needs can be fulfilled. 

Businesses that make a range of different products use batch production.

Batch Production Examples:

Whoopie Pies | How It's Made

McDonalds POV: Big Mac

• Bakery that makes batches of cup-cakes and batches of cookies separately. 

• Clothing manufacturers Zara and H&M use batch production, by producing skirts and other clothing items in batches of sizes, colours and styles.

Mass production (also known as flow production) involves the production of large amounts of standardised products on an assembly line. Mass/flow production is a continuous process whereby a product moves on an assembly line from stage to stage. At each stage, a worker or robot performs some operation on the semi-completed product, which then flows to the next stage. Products are continuously being started and completed.

Capital intensive refers to the manufacturing of a good or provision of a service that relies mainly on the use of machinery and capital equipment, e.g., conveyer belts and automated production systems. This helps to maximise output and cut unit costs of production due to economies of scale. Mass production uses relatively unskilled workers as the production process is largely automated.

It is used for products that require large-scale production of standardized products for mass market products, such as bottled water sold to supermarkets and other retailers or windscreen wipers sold to different car manufacturers. Standardization means that products are mass manufactured to an identical standard, with all output being homogeneous.

Mass/Flow Production Examples:

Inside The World's Biggest Baked Bean Factory

HOT DOGS | How It's Made

Mass customisation involves producing large quantities of goods that can be adjusted to customer specifications. This combines the flexibility and personalisation of custom-made products with the low unit costs of mass/flow production resulting from economies of scale.

Mass Customisation Production Examples:

Hasbro Selfie Series: Mass Customized Action Figures With 3D Printing

Customization Types:

• Collaborative customisation. This is where there is close interaction between the business and customer to adapt a mass-produced product according to the customer’s specifications.

• Adaptive customisation. Customers can choose from pre-set customisations provided by the business. For example, there are a variety of mattresses on the market that can be adjusted from very hard to soft according to the customer’s requirements.

• Cosmetic customisation. This is where the face of the product, often the packaging, is changed to suit the needs of the customer.

• Transparent customisation. Personalised items are recommended to the customer, based on their online shopping cart. This involves analysing online customer data to make recommendations.