5/12/2014 Discrete manufacturing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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A discrete manufacturing assembly line at the

Hyundai Motor Company's automobile factory in

Ulsan, South Korea.

Discrete manufacturingFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Discrete manufacturing is the production of distinct items. Automobiles, furniture, toys, smartphones, and

airplanes are examples of discrete manufacturing products.[1] The resulting products are easily identifiable anddiffer greatly from process manufacturing where the products are undifferentiated, for example oil, natural gasand salt.

Discrete manufacturing is often characterized byindividual or separate unit production. Units can beproduced in low volume with very high complexity orhigh volumes of low complexity. Low volume/highcomplexity production results in the need for anextremely flexible manufacturing system that can improvequality and time-to-market speed while cutting costs.High volume/low complexity production puts highpremiums on inventory controls, lead times and reducingor limiting materials costs and waste.

Industry Profile - Discrete Manufacturing includesmakers of consumer electronics, computer andaccessories, appliances, and other householditems, as well as "big ticket” consumer andcommercial goods like cars and airplanes.Discrete Manufacturing companies make physicalproducts that go directly to businesses and consumers, and assemblies that are used by other

manufacturers.[2]

The processes deployed in discrete manufacturing are not continuous in nature. Each process can be individuallystarted or stopped and can be run at varying production rates. The final product may be produced out of singleor multiple inputs. Producing a steel structure will need only one type of raw material - steel. Producing a mobilephone requires many different inputs, The plastic case, LCD display, the mainboard, PVC keypad, sockets,cables are made from different materials, at different places. This is different from Process manufacturing likeproduction of paper or petroleum refining, where the end product is obtained by a continuous process or a setof continuous processes.

References

1. ^ "JD Edwards World Product Data Management - Discrete Guide"

(http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E26228_01/doc.93/e21777.pdf) (PDF). Oracle. April 2013. Retrieved 2013-07-15.

2. ^ http://www.elementk.com/orgMain.asp?storyid=412&orgid=334/

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This page was last modified on 24 October 2013 at 00:07.

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