The recent years have witnessed the intensification of competition in the market. As a response to this competition, the modern enterprise has adopted many changes to answer the needs of its customers.
One of these changes is the production methods. From the traditional model of manufacturing, many of them have gradually adopted a more advanced production model based on flexible, automated means. These production types can be classified into three: mass production, multi-variety low volume production, and single-piece production.
At present, many manufacturers are focused on the first two, the multi-variety and low volume production. And the latter is beginning to take an increasingly important position over the former.
What is Low Volume Production?
The continuous development of modern manufacturing techniques has provided product designers and developers room for flexibility and customization. Recently, low-volume manufacturing has become increasingly popular.
Low volume manufacturing is the opposite of high volume manufacturing and there are many types of technologies available to produce a small number of products ranging from hundreds to a few thousand.
The reason behind this popularity over mass production can be attributed to four major advantages.
Low volume manufacturing parts
The Benefits of Low Volume Manufacturing
There are four reasons why customers prefer low-volume manufacturing. Here they are:
Cost Advantage
The first reason why low volume manufacturing is preferred by manufacturers is due to its cost advantage over high volume production. There are manufacturing techniques applicable to quantities less than one hundred thousand that can help save on costs. And there are materials for low volume products.
For orders of this quantity, using this type of production makes more sense because of its cost.
Flexibility
Low volume manufacturing offers more flexibility over high volume production. The products can be adjusted and modified at any time of the process based on the response from the customers and the market.
Once the production of parts begins in high-volume manufacturing, it will not be possible to make such adjustments and modifications. You can also adjust quickly when there are defects noted on the produced parts.
Timeliness of the Products
Small volume manufacturing can help customers put their products on the market at an incredible speed to win over their competition. This advantage is useful in today’s competitive market where new products are launched every day.
Rapid Prototyping at Lower Cost
Low volume manufacturing is useful in verifying the rapid prototyping of products at the lowest cost. This allows product developers to do many iterations on the design before it goes into final production.
Using low-volume manufacturing can lead to the production of high-quality parts. It also serves as a bridge between prototype and mass production, making it suitable for many products in different industries.
Conclusion
The biggest advantage that low volume manufacturing offers is it allows companies to focus on providing high-quality products to the market. They can test the needs of various customers and identify the bestselling products before mass producing them.
Should you have any questions about low volume manufacturing, and if it applies to your requirement, contact Nice Rapid. It offers different techniques to choose from for your product design.