What is manufacturing?

Manufacturing is the process of conversion of raw materials into usable products. It is a broad term and can be used for handicrafts to high technological manufacturing. Generally it is used for industrial production that involves various machines and techniques for production of products that are to be sold for public use. The meaning of the word manufacture is “made by hand” and it is derived from Latin. In ancient history manufacturing involved the production of various goods from wood, stones and metals. Manufacturing is a value addition process to raw materials in terms of revenue. Manufacturing represents approximately 20 % to 30 % if the value of all goods and services produced in industrialized countries.

Manufacturing is a very complex activity. It involves machinery, equipment, tools and people having skills related to manufacturing techniques. Previously it involved huge amount of human resource to overcome the manufacturing of required products, but today the introduction of computers has resolved this issue. Computers have automated the manufacturing process as well as they have also improved the quality of manufacturing by meeting the accuracies required in manufacturing.

Discrete parts and continuous parts can be produced by manufacturing. Gears, beverage cans, engine blocks are some examples of discrete parts. Wires, metal sheets and pipes are examples of continuous parts that are later on cut into discrete parts of various sized for various useful products.
The processes that are used in manufacturing are listed below:

1. Casting
2. Molding
3. Forming
4. Machining
5. Joining or Assembly
6. Rapid Manufacturing