FIND OUT MORE. Changing Materials 171 • Materials 170 • Robots 194
Science and Technology^205
From ankle socks to aircraft, almost everything we use
has been manufactured. Manufacturing is the process
of making products from materials. It may be done by
hand, or by computer-controlled. PRODUCTION LINES.
HOW DOES A PRODUCTION LINE WORK?
On a production line, every stage in the making of
a product is a separate workstation. Workers (or
machines) at each station do the same task over and
over again as partly made products move along a line
from station to station. This means that many more
products can be completed each day than if groups
of workers made one complete product at a time.WHAT IS QUALITY CONTROL?
Things can go wrong in a complicated production
process. Machines break down, the materials may
not be available, or they may be the wrong sort. Such
problems can lead to faulty products, which must not
be allowed to leave the factory or customers will be
disappointed. Quality control checks that every
finished product is of a sufficiently high standard.WHERE DO NEW PRODUCTS COME FROM?
Product development begins with an idea – such as
a new design for a trainer or an electronic game.
If the idea is accepted, working samples are made
and tested. Then the samples are shown to the public
to get their reaction. If it seems that enough people
would buy it, the product is put into production.
WHAT IS MASS PRODUCTION?
A product is mass produced when identical copies of
it are made in vast numbers by machines. Once, all
books were copied by hand. The printing press made
it possible for books to be printed quickly and easily,
so books became cheaper and more widely available.A production line is a system for mass producing
a complicated product efficiently. The idea was first
used by Henry Ford as a way of making cars quickly
and cheaply, so more people could buy them.
2 TEXTILE MANUFACTURING
At one time, all textiles (fabrics)
were spun and woven by hand.
Today, machines do the same job
in a fraction of the time it once
took, and produce a vast variety
of fabrics – from cotton and silk
to nylon string and carpeting.PRODUCTION LINE
1 AUTOMATED PRODUCTION
In a bottling factory, bottles are
sterilized, filled, and capped by
machines. Human workers watch
over the process in case there is a
problem. People are still better at
solving problems than machines.
Manufacturing
HENRY FORD
American, 1863–1947
The son of a farmer, Henry
Ford founded the Ford Motor
Company in 1903 and
introduced production-line
methods to car manufacture.
For the first time, cars became
generally affordable. The first
type of car produced in this
way was the Model T. Ford.
Ford said his customers could
have any colour for their car,
“so long as it was black”.manufacturing