The manufacturing industry continues to evolve. The production time is getting shorter, and so is the time to market. Because of this, product designers are moving away from mass production and leaning towards low volume manufacturing.
What is Low Volume Manufacturing?
Product design is rapidly evolving nowadays. With the increasing popularity of 3D Printing and CNC machining, the expectations have become greater. The stakeholders have also increased their expectations for the time to market to be shorter and shorter. Aside from this issue, there is also a competition to create unique and distinct designs from all sides of the industry, whether for small or established companies.
Anything manufactured between a quantity of 50 to 100,000 is considered low volume manufacturing. It can be used by companies of any side from start-ups to large manufacturers. In this article, we are going to discuss how low-volume manufacturing is beneficial to businesses of any size.
Cost Savings
One significant benefit that businesses can get from using low-volume manufacturing is cost savings. Many entrepreneurs have this notion that the manufacturing cost per unit will go down as the volumes go up. But this is not always the case.
Mass production, especially in injection molding and pressure die casting requires larger investment with more expensive tooling that needs to be hardened and treated more carefully to withstand the stress of large-scale production.
If you require a hundred thousand parts, then this manufacturing approach is the best because you will avoid large investments but will still be able to produce quality parts.
Factories set up for high-volume manufacturing usually have a massive inventory of equipment and raw materials. They impose a large minimum order quantity to cover their investment. In low-volume manufacturing, the same amount of orders can be processed faster, without demanding minimum order.
Low volume parts
Faster Time to Market
The competition is very stiff, and to win, companies are in a race to put their product out. That is what technological changes are all about. The constant innovation has enabled designers to create new designs or modify them and get them out there as fast as they can.
Low volume manufacturing is the best way to deal with companies to create enough volume without the unsustainable burden of inventory. And with the innovations in the supply chain for small quantities, the lead time is shorter as parts can be delivered in a matter of days.
Design Flexibility
Low volume manufacturing is the best option if you are looking for design flexibility. Since the products are manufactured in small quantities, it will not impact the whole lot of you who want to change your design. It will allow the product developers to perfect their products before they can reach the intended market.
Bridge Production
Even when you are going for mass production, you can still use low-volume manufacturing as a bridge between prototyping and full-scale production. It will bring your product to the market faster while fine-tuning the details of a full production run. Low volume production also allows for companies to improve their products.
Conclusion
You can find many benefits when you choose low-volume manufacturing. It can help reduce risks, shorten the time to market, save costs, and allow flexibility in the design.