An assembly line refers to a manufacturing process that enables several parts of a product to be added in a defined sequence and interval through the help of a well-crafted design. The initial assembly line was initiated by Henry Ford at the turn of the 20th Century, which saw the start of improved production. Many products such as food and cars are nowadays being produced by the use of assembly lines. Indeed, assembly lines have been a medium for achieving a competitive edge since they are associated with the mass production of goods at a lower cost compared to traditional means of productions (Beaudreu 23).
Assembly lines have made it possible to achieve high efficiency in the production processes in addition to being a mechanism that has influenced the current consumption patterns. This has led to the manufacture of products at a low cost per unit. Before the beginning of the twentieth century, most of the products that were manufactured were individually made by hand and each craftsman was entitled to creating only one part of the whole product. The craftsmen in a combination of their skills and use of other tools like knives and files could make the cut and try modifications on the parts till they accurately fitted and worked together. This technology was referred to as “Craft production” (Beaudreu 24). The invention of the concept of the assembly line has been redeveloped over the year. With the introduction of assembly lines, many factories were able to manufacture products quickly and efficiently. The rate of production also increased and therefore more products were easily manufactured in a single day.
It is worthy to note that, without the assembly lines, we would not obviously have the things we have today. The economies which accrue as a result of mass production, therefore, come from a lot of sources. The assembly line leads to the reduction of nonproductive efforts such as moving around searching for different parts of the product to join them. This has however been made easier by assembly lines as tools and parts are moved in an orderly manner in the assembly line. This obviously minimizes the time needed to produce a single unit compared to traditional means of production (Ford 34).
Another important aspect of assembly lines is that they have been able to reduce the chances of error associated with human beings as work is now done by machines. The reduction in the cost of labor and time taken to produce a unit of output has seen companies achieve economies of scale in production. The use of the assembly lines has led to mass production of the assemblies which make use of the electric motor and powered conveyor belts and tracks which move partly complete products to the employees who in turn perform some simple repetitive tasks on them (Beaudreu 25).
In summary, assembly lines have been beneficial in improving the production of products. Through their use, productions costs have been lowered and turnover increased as more products are produced in a short time compared to traditional means of production. In addition, companies are able to achieve economies of scale through the use of assembly lines as more is produced with less input. Finally, they have been able to minimize human error as more work is now done by machines.
Works Cited
Beaudreu, Charles. Mass Production, the Stock Market Crash and the Great Depression. New York: Authors Choice Press.2006, pp. 23-5
Ford, Henry. My Life and Work. New York: Garden City Publishing Company. 2008, p34