A-Z Popular Blog Manufacturing Search »
Manufacturing
 Advertisements
Production

Craft Production

Continuous Production

Job Production

Mass Production

6 Examples of Interchangeable Parts

 , updated on December 20, 2019
Interchangeable parts are parts and components that are identical for practical purposes. This may seem like an obvious idea now but it is considered one of the greatest innovations in history that is one of the defining characteristics of the first industrial revolution. Interchangeable parts allows for specialization of labor, assembly lines and production at great scale. It is also the basis of modern industries such as software development. The following are common examples of interchangeable parts.

Manufacturing

The ability to produce identical parts at scale with machines such as a screw-cutting lathe was one of the factors that lead to the industrial revolution and mass production. Assembly lines produce items such as cars by adding identical parts in a series of steps.

Software

Software is commonly architected into components or services such as microservices. This allows thousands of software developers to work on the same problem without getting in each other's way. Software commonly has millions of lines of code. This would be unthinkably complex without interchangeable parts.

Technology

It is common for technical components such as ethernet cards to be standardized. Data centers may view technical components and computing units as interchangeable parts. When a machine malfunctions a new one is swapped in.

Maintenance

When a car breaks down, a mechanic orders identical parts to repair it.

Discontinued Parts

Parts that are no longer mass produced may be produced from specifications using techniques such as injection molding and 3D printing. In some cases, manufacturers offer services to reproduce old parts as they have access to the required specifications.

Reuse

Used parts can be used to repair or restore machines and vehicles. In some cases, hobbyists will produce original designs from used parts.
Overview: Interchangeable Parts
Type
Definition (1)
Parts and components that are identical for practical purposes.
Definition (2)
The practice of designing things with various systems, subsystems, services, components and parts that can be interchanged with equivalents.
Significance
Considered one of the organizing principles of the industrial revolution. Interchangeable parts is also an organizing principle of modern industrial civilization and relatively new industries such as information technology.
Advantages
Dividing work to many people.
Specialization of labor whereby parts are made by individuals with unique skills.
Specialization of supply whereby parts are made by firms with unique competitive advantages.
Interchangeable parts allows for the design and production of extremely complex things by breaking the complexity into relatively simple parts, components, services, subsystems and systems.
Assembly lines and production at scale.
Lowering unit cost with economies of scale.
Creates competition between suppliers. This tends to lower cost and increase quality.
Allows firms to diversify their supply chain to get the same parts from multiple suppliers.
Allows for maintenance and repair as parts can be replaced.
Allows for upgrades such as a mobile device that allows you to swap in more memory when you need it.
Gives consumers choice as multiple firms offer the same parts.
Allows for reuse.
Disadvantages
Considered a basis for the industrial revolution that transformed the world into a industrial civilization including features such as the military industrial complex with corresponding changes to culture, way of life and history.
It can be argued that industrial firms view labor as interchangeable parts and that this type of thinking has commoditization the human experience. Likewise, governments may view populations as interchangeable parts. For example, standardization of education to produce workers who are "interchangeable" because they have standardized skill sets.
Related Concepts

Manufacturing

This is the complete list of articles we have written about manufacturing.
Acceptance Sampling
Assembly Line
Automation
Batch
Batch Production
Benchmarking
Bottleneck
Cell Production
Continuous Process
Continuous Production
Craft Production
Cycle Time
Debottlenecking
Delayed Differentiation
Finished Goods
Genchi Genbutsu
Interchangeable Parts
Intermittent Production
Job Production
Job Shop
Lead Time
Light Industry
Lights Out
Make To Stock
Manufacturing Industry
Manufacturing Quality
Mass Customization
Mass Production
Production
Production Line
Production Process
Production Run
Quality Control
Robotics
S&OP
Takt Time
Target Costing
Theory Of Constraints
White Label
More ...
If you enjoyed this page, please consider bookmarking Simplicable.
 

Manufacturing

A list of manufacturing examples.

Batch Production vs Mass Production

The difference between batch production and mass production.

Production Line vs Assembly Line

The difference between a production line and assembly line.

Continuous Process

A definition of continuous process with examples.

Takt Time

An overview of takt time with calculation formula and example.

Make To Stock

The definition of make to stock with examples.

Production Process

The common types of production process.

Production Run

A definition of production run with examples.

Continuous Production

A definition of continuous production with examples.

Cell Production

The definition of cell production with examples.

Reuse

A list of reuse techniques.

Upcycling vs Downcycling

The difference between upcycling and downcycling.

Shipping Container Architecture

An overview of shipping container architecture.

Repair Cafe

An overview of repair cafes.

Types of Reuse

A few types of reuse.

Creative Consumer

A definition of creative consumer with examples.

Planned Obsolescence

The common types of planned obsolescence.

Adaptive Reuse

A definition of adaptive reuse with examples.

Recommerce

The definition of recommerce with examples.

Right To Repair

The definition of right to repair with examples.
The most popular articles on Simplicable in the past day.

New Articles

Recent posts or updates on Simplicable.
Site Map