Productionisation
Encyclopedia
Productionisation is the process of turning a prototype
of a design into a version that can be more easily mass produced
. It is almost always a necessary step in the development of any product, since it is rare that the initial design is free from flaws or construction methods which make it difficult or more expensive to manufacture.
Prototypes are very often constructed by hand, or with more limited tooling. This is done to save costs where the design may not even be subsequently approved for manufacture. Once the go-ahead for a production run is given, the much more costly production tooling can be ordered. At this stage, the design itself may need to be reworked or altered to streamline production. The goal is to reduce costs as much as possible at the assembly stage, since costs will be multiplied by the number of units produced. For example, a prototype might be assembled using nuts and bolts, but in production such fasteners might be replaced by captive nuts or threaded holes built in to the parts, making assembly much faster, easier and therefore cheaper.
Sometimes limited runs of a design might be manufactured without full productionisation.
Other examples of productionisation might include:
Prototype
A prototype is an early sample or model built to test a concept or process or to act as a thing to be replicated or learned from.The word prototype derives from the Greek πρωτότυπον , "primitive form", neutral of πρωτότυπος , "original, primitive", from πρῶτος , "first" and τύπος ,...
of a design into a version that can be more easily mass produced
Mass production
Mass production is the production of large amounts of standardized products, including and especially on assembly lines...
. It is almost always a necessary step in the development of any product, since it is rare that the initial design is free from flaws or construction methods which make it difficult or more expensive to manufacture.
Prototypes are very often constructed by hand, or with more limited tooling. This is done to save costs where the design may not even be subsequently approved for manufacture. Once the go-ahead for a production run is given, the much more costly production tooling can be ordered. At this stage, the design itself may need to be reworked or altered to streamline production. The goal is to reduce costs as much as possible at the assembly stage, since costs will be multiplied by the number of units produced. For example, a prototype might be assembled using nuts and bolts, but in production such fasteners might be replaced by captive nuts or threaded holes built in to the parts, making assembly much faster, easier and therefore cheaper.
Sometimes limited runs of a design might be manufactured without full productionisation.
Other examples of productionisation might include:
- plastic mouldingPlastic mouldingIn Plastic moulding, the moulding process selected depends upon two main factors: The geometry of the component to be moulded and the material from which it is to be made...
s instead of hand-constructed parts - built-in fastenerFastenerA fastener is a hardware device that mechanically joins or affixes two or more objects together.Fasteners can also be used to close a container such as a bag, a box, or an envelope; or they may involve keeping together the sides of an opening of flexible material, attaching a lid to a container,...
s - customised IT solutions released into a live environment
- snap-together or machine welded parts instead of using fasteners
- custom integrated circuitIntegrated circuitAn integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit is an electronic circuit manufactured by the patterned diffusion of trace elements into the surface of a thin substrate of semiconductor material...
s instead of discrete electronic components