Assembly, subassembly, and part drawings are three familiar methods within the manufacturing industry. Though these methods are different from one another, together they can create one final product or several smaller products. Assembly and subassembly involve putting pieces together to form functional products, while part drawing is a critical aspect of assembly and subassembly processes, allowing a team to meet their product and production line qualifications and specifications.
We sat down with David Schultz, NewStream's business development manager, recently to discuss the process for onboarding new customers, their concerns, NewStream's value adds, and how we help original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) love their supply chain.
As a result of all the unpredictable market shifts and the fluctuating demand and supply, many businesses, especially retail businesses and original equipment manufacturers (OEM) have sought new ways to optimize their operations, increase production efficiency, lower costs, and eliminate material waste. Outsourcing order fulfillment services through a 3PL is one of the most popular and efficient solutions. Companies can focus more on their business operations and sales growth by employing a 3PL provider to prepare and ship products to customers. Most retailers and OEMs outsource kitting and/or assembly. They are two distinct services that, in most cases, work together in the order fulfillment process.
The modern assembly line is an intricate commercial production arrangement in which both personnel and equipment are leveraged to systematically assembly products station by station. Each station adds to the work from previous stations until the product is finished.
Assembly line methods were first created to increase factory productivity and efficiency by lowering the cost and time it takes to make a finished product. Current advancements in assembly-line technologies set out to achieve those same original goals: to increase throughput (the number of goods produced in a given period of time) and to reduce costs. There are four assembly line methods that have been used in the production process. Additionally, various costs in the manufacturing process are associated with each method.
At the turn of the twentieth century, the assembly line was created, an innovation in manufacturing so powerful that it is still used to this day. Even though the assembly line has become a mainstay in manufacturing for over 100 years, there are still aspects of the process that can be continually improved upon and optimized to reduce inefficiencies and waste. Productivity can be measured by the units of work produced per unit of time using raw materials and can be raised or lowered depending on how streamlined the assembly line is. Low productivity levels can be extremely detrimental to the manufacturing process and ultimately a company’s profitability, so how can we improve productivity in an assembly line?
