Manufacturing Technology

Oolitic Middle School
Industrial Technology

Production Technology: Manufacturing

Introduction

Think about your plans for tomorrow. What will you wear? What will you eat? Where will you go? What will you do for entertainment? Your clothing, many of your favorite foods, and the television you watch all have something in common. Can you guess what it is? They are all products of manufacturing.

Teen fashion is a huge industry.
Of course, almost all clothing is a product of manufacturing.

What is manufacturing? Manufacturing is the changing of raw or processed materials into usable products. Manufacturing occurs in manufacturing plants, or factories. Factories like the one pictured below are buildings where many of the products you use and own are made.

A Modern Manufacturing Complex

Today's manufactured items are either consumer products or industrial products.

What are consumer products? Consumer products are purchased by consumers like you and me and "used up." Consume means to use up. Televisions, cereal, clothing, and books are some examples of consumer products.

What are industrial products? Industrial products are purchased by industries and used to make other products. Lumber, steel beams, and machine tools are examples of industrial products. For example, a furniture manufacturer might buy lumber. A bridge builder might buy steel beams.

Shopping malls like the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota
are full of consumer products like clothing, hardware, electronics, and toys.

A common industrial product, lumber is used to manufacture other products
such as furniture, cabinets, paneling, and flooring.

While products vary, the manufacturing processes are similar. Manufacturing is a system. A system is an organized way of achieving a goal. Like all technology systems, manufacturing needs resources. These resources are People, Information, Materials, Tools and Machines, Energy, Capital, and Time. All tasks, from sharpening a pencil to manufacturing a jumbo jet require these same seven resources.

There are also seven parts to a manufacturing system. They are:

1.	Designing a product
2.	Purchasing materials
3.	Processing materials
4.	Production
5.	Packaging
6.	Distribution
7.	Sales

Let's now examine manufacturing as a system. Let's take a close look at how systems can be used to produce the vast number of consumer and industrial products used every day. And while we are at it, we will also explore some of the trends and technologies in manufacturing today. Just click one of the links below and we will begin our discovery.