Continuous production is the term used in the context of the manufacturing of products, as the name suggests under this method the production of the product is on a continuous basis without any significant stoppage. This method of production is ideal for those products which are standardized and are used widely throughout the year so that company does not have any problem with storage. In order to have a better understanding of this term, one should look at some of the advantages and disadvantages of continuous production –
Advantages of Continuous Production
Better Utilization of Resources
The first and foremost advantage of continuous production is that it leads to better utilization of resources of the company. Hence whether it’s men, machine, or material all 3 M are put to good use by the company as they have to work continuously without any break and thus helping the company in the achievement of its objective.
Less Wastage
Another advantage of having continuous production in the company is that it leads to less wastage of resources. Hence in the case of labor, they do not sit idle for too long which in turn result in an increase in efficiency of labor or machines never stops thus the time taken to start and stop the machine is also reduced besides in the case of materials since raw materials are required in bulk company saves in cost of materials also as the company receives discount due to bulk purchase from the manufacturers.
Minimum Storage Requirement
In case of continuous production since production happens continuously, it leads to consumption of raw materials as soon as it arrives, similarly, finished goods are sent to the market due to continues demand and hence company does not need to have big storage facility as storage requirement in case of continuous production is minimal.
Disadvantages of Continuous Production
Dependent on Demand
The biggest drawback of continuous production is that it is dependent on demand for the product and if there is no demand then there is no use in doing continuous production. In simple words, a waterfall happens when there are rains on the mountains and if there is no rain then there will be no waterfall in the same way demand can be compared to rain and continuous production can be compared to waterfall.
Less Flexible
This method of production is less flexible in the sense that all systems and process is standardized and if there is any change in demand pattern or specification of the product that is not easy to change the method of production quickly and hence prove to be a limitation as far as this method of production is concerned.
Chain Reaction
In the case of continuous production since the whole process is standardized and everything is dependent on each other and hence failure from any one side or process can lead to a chain reaction and thus stopping the whole work of the company. In simple words, in the case of continuous production, there is always this risk that if one production process is not working then other production processes will also suffer thus making the whole company doing continuous production vague.
As one can see from the above that company resorting to continuous production face pros as well as cons and that is the reason why any company thinking of doing continuous production should carefully read the above points and then only should take any decision.