Manufacturing Processes

Manufacturing processes vary according to the type of product manufactured. This article lists the 21 subsectors of manufacturing that are recognized and followed by the U.S. Census Bureau. It discusses the issues unique to the processes of three manufacturing subsectors: Apparel manufacturing, chemical manufacturing, and transportation equipment (automobile) manufacturing, and describes two technological tools to aid in the manufacturing process.

Keywords Apparel Manufacturing; Chemical Manufacturing; Latency; Manufacturing Sector; Manufacturing Subsectors; Outsourcing; Process Analytical Technology (PAT); Product Lifecycle Management (PLM); Supply Chain; Supply Chain Management; Time-to-market; Transportation Equipment Manufacturing

Manufacturing > Manufacturing Processes

Overview

In 2006, the manufacturing sector contributed 12.1% of value to the Gross Domestic Product of the United States.

The manufacturing sector, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, includes those establishments that are engaged in the mechanical, physical, or chemical transformation of materials, substances, or components into new products (United States Department of Commerce; Census Bureau, Manufacturing and Construction Division, 2005).

The Census Bureau breaks down the manufacturing sector into 21 broad subsectors, each labeled by a three-number code from its North American Industry Classification System (NAICS):

311 - Food Manufacturing 312 - Beverage and Tobacco Product Manufacturing 313 - Textile Mills 314 - Textile Product Mills 315 - Apparel Manufacturing 316 - Leather and Allied Product Manufacturing 321 - Wood Product Manufacturing 322 - Paper Manufacturing 323 - Printing and Related Support Activities 324 - Petroleum and Coal Products Manufacturing 325 - Chemical Manufacturing 326 - Plastics and Rubber Products Manufacturing 327 - Nonmetallic Mineral Product Manufacturing 331 - Primary Metal Manufacturing 332 - Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing 333 - Machinery Manufacturing 334 - Computer and Electronic Product Manufacturing 335 - Electrical Equipment, Appliance, and Component Manufacturing 336 - Transportation Equipment Manufacturing 337 - Furniture and Related Product Manufacturing 339 - Miscellaneous Manufacturing(United States Department of Commerce Census Bureau, 2007, p. 2-3)

The Census Bureau breaks down each subsector further, into multiple, more detailed segments with four, five, and six-number NAICS codes. For example, the transportation manufacturing subsector, 336, is further broken down into 52 segments. To illustrate, here are the first five number code segments for Transportation Equipment Manufacturing:

336 - Transportation Equipment Manufacturing 3361 - Motor Vehicle Manufacturing 33611 - Automobile and Light Duty Motor Vehicle Manufacturing 336111 - Automobile Manufacturing 336112 - Light Truck and Utility Vehicle Manufacturing(United States Department of Commerce Census Bureau, 2007, p. 2-3)

Why are the Census Bureau subsectors for manufacturing relevant to the topic of manufacturing processes? They are relevant because each subsector reflects specific production methods associated with material inputs, production equipment, and employee skills (Census Bureau, Manufacturing and Construction Division, 2005).

For this article’s purposes, we will concentrate on the manufacturing processes of three subsectors within the manufacturing sector:

  • Apparel Manufacturing
  • Chemical Manufacturing
  • Transportation Equipment Manufacturing

These three sub-sectors will provide us with the framework for a discussion of some of their unique manufacturing processes.

Applications

In this section, we will define the basic processes for apparel manufacturing, chemical manufacturing, and transportation equipment manufacturing. These are crucial, but general processes; each process may include multiple sub-processes that are unique to the industry or product.

Apparel Manufacturing Subsector

The apparel manufacturing sector consists of establishments that turn fabric into clothing.

Apparel Manufacturing Process

The process of turning fabric into clothing is relatively straightforward and requires five main actions.

Here are the five main actions that constitute the basic process for manufacturing an item of clothing:

  1. Designing the clothing item
  2. Creating a pattern for the clothing item
  3. Purchasing fabric and materials for the clothing item
  4. Preparing the fabric and materials for construction into the clothing item
  5. Constructing the clothing item

An apparel manufacturing company may complete all or some of the actions in-house. For example, some companies might also weave their own fabric. Others may purchase patterns, and fabrics. Others might contract out certain facets, such as the design of products, while still others may employ outsourcing for part of the process, such as the pattern-making, or sewing of the clothing item, to one or more persons or organizations outside the company.

Chemical Manufacturing Subsector

The chemical manufacturing subsector consists of establishments that transform organic and inorganic raw materials through a chemical process that allows for the formation of new products.

Chemical Manufacturing Process

The process for manufacturing chemicals requires controlled manufacturing conditions and highly-skilled personnel with a knowledge of chemicals, their melting and boiling points, and reactive properties.

Here is a very general outline of the process for manufacturing a chemical:

  • Identify the chemical to manufacture and establish the quantity needed.
  • Identify the type and quantities of raw materials required to make the chemical.
  • Gather information about the chemical properties of the raw materials, their reactive qualities, their melting and boiling points, and any by-products that will result from the synthesizing and manufacturing processes.
  • Create a manufacturing process flow document that details the process, equipment, and safety conditions required.
  • Follow the process flow document to manufacture the chemical.

Transportation Equipment Manufacturing Subsector

The transportation equipment manufacturing subsector consists of establishments that produce certain tools that facilitate the transportation of people and products. For discussion purposes, I will focus on the manufacturing process for automobiles.

Automobile Manufacturing Process

Of all the manufacturing subsectors, the process for manufacturing automobiles is probably the one that usually comes to mind when we think of large-scale manufacturing operations or "factory production."

Basically, once an automobile model has been designed, tested for safety, performance, and cost-effectiveness and confirmed for production, the process for manufacturing it includes a series of highly-automated operations.

These operations include:

  • The procurement of parts and materials
  • The setup of the assembly line in one or more physical or geographical locations
  • The assembly of the individual components of the automobile
  • The joining of all the individual components into a complete automobile

Issues

Manufacturing processes are primarily driven by nine factors:

  1. Legal regulations
  2. Safety regulations
  3. Time-to-market of product
  4. Availability of raw materials
  5. Price of raw materials
  6. Geographic location of raw materials
  7. Availability of skilled workers
  8. Wages of workers
  9. Supply chain

Of course, legal and safety regulations are prominent concerns for every U.S. manufacturer. However, the issues associated with each of the nine factors vary in prominence, complexity or level of difficulty to achieve, depending upon the manufacturing industry or subsector.

Here are some of the unique challenges of the manufacturing processes for the three subsectors that we are focusing upon: apparel manufacturing, chemical manufacturing, and automobile manufacturing. These issues are not all-inclusive, but rather highlight the variety of constraints in manufacturing processes.

Apparel Manufacturing Processes — Issues

The following four issues greatly affect the manufacturing process for apparel:

  1. Time-to-market
  2. Latency
  3. Fair labor practices by manufacturers (payment of living wages, avoidance of child undocumented immigrant labor)
  4. Fair labor practices by organizations within the manufacturer's supply chain

Apparel Manufacturing Process Issue 1 — Time-to-market

Time-to-market is a major driver in the manufacturing process of the apparel subsector. As we know, fashion has a limited shelf life and the competition is determined to be the first apparel company to bring the next best clothing item to the end customer. Even apparel manufacturers of products that are viewed as less trend-conscious, such as uniforms, are driven by time-to-market factors, or they risk losing their customer base to competitors.

Therefore, all other issues associated with the apparel manufacturing process are tackled with the goal of shortening the time-to-market.

Apparel Manufacturing Process Issue 2 — Latency

Latency, or the amount of time that passes while a unit of work progresses from one step to the next, greatly affects time-to-market. Apparel manufacturers usually construct their items on a piece work basis. For example, each part for multiple numbers of the same shirt is made in separate operations: All the sleeves are constructed in one operation, all the collars are constructed in another operation. When each part is completed, all the parts are sewn together into completed shirts. To minimize latency, there must always be shirt parts ready and waiting for the final operation of sewing them into complete garments.

Apparel Manufacturing Process 3 — Fair Labor Practices by Manufacturers (payment of living wages, safe working conditions, and avoidance of child and undocumented immigrant labor)

Like other manufacturers, those in the apparel subsector are legally subject to fair labor practices that promote the payment of living wages, and avoid the use of child and undocumented immigrant labor. The U.S Department of Labor oversees compliance of fair labor practices, including fair wages and benefits, safe working conditions, work authorization of non-U.S. citizens, and equal opportunity standards. The U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA), an agency within the Department of Labor, enforces the federal laws and regulations concerning safe working conditions. In addition, OSHA encourages individual states to set up their own occupational safety and health programs, which OSHA monitors after approving them. To date, 26 states have set up OSHA-approved safety and health programs.

In recent years, the apparel subsector has been closely monitored for its compliance with fair labor standards by the government and the media because of three practices that are historically common in its manufacturing process that make it more vulnerable to noncompliance:

  • The prevalence of piece work construction
  • The use of work-from-home labor
  • The outsourcing of operations both domestically and overseas

Apparel Manufacturing Process 4 — Fair Labor Practices by Organizations within the Manufacturer's Supply Chain

The organizations within a manufacturer's supply chain — from suppliers to transporters to wholesalers to retail merchants — are of course also subject to the same fair labor practices as the manufacturer. However, an interesting twist to this fact is that a manufacturer is also expected to confirm that the members of its supply chain are indeed compliant with fair labor practices.

According to a survey of the largest American retailers and manufacturers by the U.S. Department of Labor, all 15 of the responding garment manufacturers have imposed some technique of policy that bans child labor in overseas production factories, such as codes of conduct, statements of principles, vendor and country-compliance requirements (United States Department of Labor Office of Compliance Assistance Policy, n.d.).

Chemical Manufacturing Processes — Issues

Two issues that particularly affect the manufacturing process for chemicals are:

  • Legal & environmental requirements
  • Working conditions

In the chemical manufacturing subsector, legal and environmental requirements are usually intertwined due to the nature of the product and oversight by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

In 1976, Congress passed the Toxic Substances Control Act, which authorized the EPA to follow industrial chemicals that are created by or imported into America. The EPA has the power to ban the manufacture and import of chemicals that offer an unreasonable risk to humans or the environment. The EPA devises and enforces a comprehensive set of laws and regulations that companies which manufacture or store large quantities of chemicals are required to follow. The EPA requirements include the formation of an emergency response plan and adherence to multiple EPA laws and regulations that cover the handling, transport, and disposal of materials that are hazardous to humans, animals, or the environment (EPA, 1976).

Chemical manufacturers are also subject to any state or local laws governing their activities.

For example, in 1989, the state of Massachusetts passed the Toxics Use Reduction Act (TURA) to encourage a reduction in the amount of toxics used in Massachusetts and the amount of toxic byproducts generated. Federal law requires companies to report toxic chemical releases, but TURA is stricter than the Federal law because it requires companies to report on their toxic chemical usage and to also prepare a Toxics Use Reduction Plan (Massachusetts Toxics Use Reduction Institute, n.d.).

Chemical Manufacturing Process Issue 2 — Working Conditions

It is crucial that persons involved in a chemical manufacturing process are highly-trained in the knowledge of chemical properties, the handling of chemicals, and emergency responses. All chemical manufacturing facilities and storage facilities must meet federal, state, and local safety requirements and be equipped with emergency response and communication equipment. In addition, all transport vehicles must be labeled with the contents and Department of Transportation registration/identification numbers.

Automobile Manufacturing Processes — Issues

Factors that affect the manufacturing process for automobiles include the following four issues:

  1. Time-to-market
  2. Working conditions
  3. Environmental requirements
  4. Supply chain management

Automobile Manufacturing Process Issue 1 — Time-to-Market

In the automobile manufacturing subsector, time-to-market is a major consideration.

The entire process from designing an automobile to ultimately getting it to the end customer is a lengthy process and automobile manufacturers strive to shorten it by devising a variety of strategies such as:

  • Streamlining assembly techniques
  • Improving facilities layouts
  • Designing parts that fit more than one automobile model

Henry Ford was the first automobile manufacturer to grasp the financial and marketing benefits of the time-to-market concept. In 1913, after operating his company for 10 years, Ford introduced the assembly line to one of his automotive plants in Michigan. The assembly line model, in which an individual worker stayed in one spot to perform the same task on multiple vehicles, proved so efficient that it allowed Ford Motor Company to far surpass the production levels of its competitors and therefore sell the vehicles at lower cost (Ford Motor Company, n.d.).

Automobile Manufacturing Process Issue 2 — Working Conditions

Like all U.S. employers, automobile manufacturers are required to provide workers with safe working conditions according to OSHA laws and regulations.

Elements of safe working conditions in the automobile manufacturing process include:

  • Ongoing training to teach workers new skills and the safest and most efficient methods for performing their jobs
  • Equipment that is regularly inspected
  • Limited exposure to hazardous materials
  • Effective emergency response plans in place in every facility

Automobile Manufacturing Process Issue 3 — Environmental Requirements

Automobile manufacturers and owners are subject to federal and state regulations for emissions, disposal, and storage. (Many cities and towns have "junk car" laws or regulations which limit the visible storage of unlicensed or unregistered motor vehicles. Besides decreasing environmental and other safety hazards, these laws are intended to enhance the aesthetics of neighborhoods.) Automobile manufacturers can also be assessed a tax if their new automobiles do not meet federal fuel efficiency standards.

Automobile Manufacturing Process Issue 4 — Supply Chain Management

The management of the intricate network of suppliers, distributors, transporters, and retailers that make up the supply chain for an automobile manufacturer is of utmost importance. Although distributors, transporters, and retailers are not part of the actual manufacturing process, their actions and efficiencies or inefficiencies are integral to the operations of an automobile manufacturer. To keep down the cost of purchasing and warehousing, automobile manufacturers are more likely to utilize the just-in-time (JIT) approach to inventory rather than stockpiling parts or finished products. The JIT approach requires proper management of the entire supply chain so that production has the parts needed at the time needed and that ultimately, retailers receive the automobiles exactly when they need them — not before, not afterwards.

Further Discourse

Two Technological Tools for the Manufacturing Process

Manufacturers and those who provide services to them are continuously seeking innovative methods to cut costs by speeding up the efficiency of the manufacturing processes while maintaining or improving the quality of the products. Two effective tools that are being employed to improve the processes for manufacturers are:

  • Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)
  • Process Analytical Technology (PAT)

Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)

Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) “is a strategic business approach that applies a consistent set of business solutions in support of the collaborative creation, management, dissemination, and use of product definition information across the extended enterprise from concept to end of life, integrating people, process, and information” (CIMdata, Inc. as cited by Gould, 2002, p. 2).

PLM is an excellent tool for all manufacturers, but particularly those with complex or distributed supply chains who are driven by time-to-market issues, like apparel manufacturers and automobile manufacturers. Web-based PLM technology allows a manufacturer to create an at-a-glance central product information repository that provides visibility into its inventory, sales, and distribution figures, and enables communication with all members of the supply chain.

Process Analytical Technology (PAT)

Process Analytical Technology (PAT) is particularly useful for manufacturers of pharmaceutical products. PAT “is a system for the analysis and control of manufacturing processes that is based on timely measurements during the processing of critical quality parameters and performance attributes of raw and in-process materials. PAT is designed to assure acceptable end product quality at the completion of the process” (Cook, 2007, p. 18).

Terms & Concepts

Annual Survey of Manufactures (ASM): Conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, the ASM provides sample estimates of “statistics for all U.S. manufacturing establishments with one or more paid employees, including: employment, payroll, value added by manufacture, cost of materials consumed, value of shipments, detailed capital expenditures, supplemental labor costs, fuels and electric energy used, and inventories by stage of fabrication” (United States Department of Commerce; Census Bureau, Manufacturing and Construction Division, 2005, “Overview”).

Gross Domestic Product (GDP): The market value of products and services that are created through American labor efforts and property (Bureau of Economic Analysis).

Just-in-time (JIT): The practice of keeping "just enough" inventory in stock to meet production or customer demand. JIT is the opposite of "stockpiling" parts or finished products.

Latency: The time lost while a unit of work proceeds from one step in a process to the next (Seibert, 2005, p. 2).

Manufacturing Sector: A U.S. Census Bureau term to segment establishments engaged in the mechanical, physical, or chemical transformation of materials, substances, or components into new products into specific industry groups.

Manufacturing Subsector: A U.S. Census Bureau term to further segment manufacturing sectors into subcategories based on specific production processes associated with material inputs, production equipment, and employee skills.

Massachusetts Toxics Use Reduction Act (TURA): A 1989 law that encourages a decrease in the level of toxics used in Massachusetts and the level of toxic byproducts created.

Outsourcing: The procuring of services or products from an outside supplier or manufacturer in order to cut costs (Brooks, 2004, p. 4).

Process Analytical Technology (PAT): System for the analysis and control of manufacturing processes that is based on timely measurements during processing of critical quality parameters and performance attributes of raw and in-process materials. PAT is designed to assure acceptable end product quality at the completion of the process (Cook, 2007, p. 18).

Product Lifecycle Management (PLM): “A strategic business approach that applies a consistent set of business solutions in support of the collaborative creation, management, dissemination, and use of product definition information across the extended enterprise from concept to end of life; integrating people, processes, and information” (CIMdata, Inc. as cited by Gould, 2002, p. 2).

Supply Chain: The entire network of suppliers, retailers, distributors, transporters, and warehousers that are involved in the sale, delivery, and production of a product.

Supply Chain Management: An organization's management of its communications and business relations with its entire network of suppliers, retailers, distributors, transporters, and warehousers.

Time-to-Market: The length of time it takes to bring a product from the initial concept to the marketplace.

Value Added by Industry: The contribution of an industry to gross domestic product (Bureau of Economic Analysis).

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Suggested Reading

Edmondson, G., Rowley, I., Lakshman, N., Welch, D. & Roberts, D. (2007). The race to build really cheap cars. Business Week, 4031, 44-48. Retrieved June 6, 2007, from EBSCO Online Database Business Source Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=24788401&site=ehost-live

General Laws of Massachusetts. (n.d.). Chapter 211: Massachusetts toxics use reduction act. Retrieved June 14, 2007, from, http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/gl-21i-toc.htm

Supply execs say manufacturing to grow 6.4% in 2007. (2007). Supply House Times, 49, 16-20. Retrieved June 10, 2007, from EBSCO Online Database Business Source Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=24791085&site=ehost-live

Woodward, N. (2007). Making safety job no. 1. HRMagazine, 52, 60-65. Retrieved June 6, 2007, from EBSCO Online Database Business Source Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=23623204&site=ehost-live

Zarrow, P. (2007). The deadly sins of pb-free assembly. Circuits Assembly, 18, 26-27. Retrieved June 6, 2007, from EBSCO Online Database Business Source Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=24700745&site=ehost-live

Essay by Sue Ann Connaughton, MLS

Sue Ann Connaughton is a freelance writer and researcher. Formerly, she was the Manager of Intellectual Capital & Research at Silver Oak Solutions, a spend management solutions consulting firm that was acquired by CGI in 2005. Ms. Connaughton holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Salem State College, a Master of Education from Boston University, and a Master of Library & Information Science from Florida State University.