Mass production | Description, History, Uses, & Limitations (2024)

mass production, application of the principles of specialization, division of labour, and standardization of parts to the manufacture of goods. Such manufacturing processes attain high rates of output at low unit cost, with lower costs expected as volume rises. Mass production methods are based on two general principles: (1) the division and specialization of human labour and (2) the use of tools, machinery, and other equipment, usually automated, in the production of standard, interchangeable parts and products. The use of modern methods of mass production has brought such improvements in the cost, quality, quantity, and variety of goods available that the largest global population in history is now sustained at the highest general standard of living.

(Read Henry Ford’s 1926 Britannica essay on mass production.)

The Industrial Revolution and early developments

The principle of the division of labour and the resulting specialization of skills can be found in many human activities, and there are records of its application to manufacturing in ancient Greece. The first unmistakable examples of manufacturing operations carefully designed to reduce production costs by specialized labour and the use of machines appeared in the 18th century in England. They were signaled by five important inventions in the textile industry: (1) John Kay’s flying shuttle in 1733, which permitted the weaving of larger widths of cloth and significantly increased weaving speed; (2) Edmund Cartwright’s power loom in 1785, which increased weaving speed still further; (3) James Hargreaves’s spinning jenny in 1764; (4) Richard Arkwright’s water frame in 1769; and (5) Samuel Crompton’s spinning mule in 1779. The last three inventions improved the speed and quality of thread-spinning operations.

A sixth invention, the steam engine, perfected by James Watt, was the key to further rapid development. After making major improvements in steam engine design in 1765, Watt continued his development and refinement of the engine until, in 1785, he successfully used one in a cotton mill. Once human, animal, and water power could be replaced with a reliable low-cost source of motive energy, the Industrial Revolution was clearly established, and the subsequent centuries would witness invention and innovation the likes of which could never have been imagined.

Britannica Quiz

Machinery and Manufacturing

In 1776 Adam Smith, in his Wealth of Nations, observed the benefits of the specialization of labour in the manufacture of pins. Although earlier observers had noted this phenomenon, Smith’s writings commanded widespread attention and helped foster an awareness of industrial production and broaden its appeal.

The next major advance was made in 1797 when Eli Whitney, inventor of the cotton gin, proposed the manufacture of flintlocks with completely interchangeable parts, in contrast to the older method under which each gun was the individual product of a highly skilled gunsmith and each part was hand-fitted.

During the same period similar ideas were being tried out in Europe. In England Marc Brunel, a French-born inventor and engineer, established a production line to manufacture blocks (pulleys) for sailing ships, using the principles of division of labour and standardized parts. Brunel’s machine tools were designed and built by Henry Maudslay, who has been called the father of the machine tool industry. Maudslay recognized the importance of precision tools that could produce identical parts; he and his student, Joseph Whitworth, also manufactured interchangeable, standardized metal bolts and nuts.

By the middle of the 19th century the general concepts of division of labour, machine-assisted manufacture, and assembly of standardized parts were well established. Large factories were in operation on both sides of the Atlantic, and some industries, such as textiles and steel, were using processes, machinery, and equipment that would be recognizable even in the early 21st century. The growth of manufacturing was accelerated by the rapid expansion of rail, barge, ship, and road transportation. The new transport companies not only enabled factories to obtain raw materials and to ship finished products over increasingly large distances, but they also created a substantial demand for the output of the new industries.

At this point in the Industrial Revolution, the methods and procedures used to organize human labour, to plan and control the flow of work, and to handle the myriad details on the shop floor were largely informal and were based on historical patterns and precedents. One man changed all of that.

Pioneers of mass production methods

In 1881, at the Midvale Steel Company in the United States, Frederick W. Taylor began studies of the organization of manufacturing operations that subsequently formed the foundation of modern production planning. After carefully studying the smallest parts of simple tasks, such as the shoveling of dry materials, Taylor was able to design methods and tools that permitted workers to produce significantly more with less physical effort. Later, by making detailed stopwatch measurements of the time required to perform each step of manufacture, Taylor brought a quantitative approach to the organization of production functions.

At the same time, Frank B. Gilbreth and his wife, Lillian Gilbreth, U.S. industrial engineers, began their pioneering studies of the movements by which people carry out tasks. Using the then new technology of motion pictures, the Gilbreths analyzed the design of motion patterns and work areas with a view to achieving maximum economy of effort. The “time-and-motion” studies of Taylor and the Gilbreths provided important tools for the design of contemporary manufacturing systems.

In 1916 Henri Fayol, who for many years had managed a large coal mining company in France, began publishing his ideas about the organization and supervision of work, and by 1925 he had enunciated several principles and functions of management. His idea of unity of command, which stated that an employee should receive orders from only one supervisor, helped to clarify the organizational structure of many manufacturing operations.