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Intermittent production is the common practice of using the same production line to produce different types of goods. The following are illustrative examples.A snowboard manufacturer produces a men's model of snowboard for 12 weeks on a continuous production line to build stock for the coming winter. At the end of the 12 weeks, the line is reconfigured and a women's model of board is produced for 14 weeks.
A bakery produces 12 batches of cookies each morning. After the cookies, machines are reconfigured and the production line is used to produce muffins.Contract ManufacturerA contract manufacturer produces cosmetics to customer specifications. They operate a single production line that might produce 60 different products in a month. They often do a run for a few hours, change the line and do another run.
ShutdownA solar manufacturer has three factories that vary in cost efficiency. When demand is low, they shutdown the least efficient factory. When demand is high, they start the factory back up. This allows the firm to survive industry downturns that may last months or years.|
| Type | | | Definition (1) | The common practice of using the same production line to produce different types of goods. | | Definition (2) | The practice of stopping and restarting a production line in response to market conditions. | | Related Concepts | |
ReferencesMaloney, Michael T., and Robert E. McCormick. "A theory of cost and intermittent production." 1983.
Manufacturing
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