Home > Encyclopedia of Science > Mass Production

• Famous American contributors to mass production
• Words to Know
• Mass production begins at Ford
• Technique puts an end to craftsmanship

Mass production is the manufacture of goods in large quantities using standardized designs so the goods are all the same. Assembly-line techniques are usually used. An assembly line is a system in which a product is manufactured in a step-by-step process as it moves continuously past an arrangement of workers and machines. This system is one of the most powerful productivity concepts in history. It was largely responsible for the emergence and expansion of the industrialized, consumer-based system we have today.

While various mass production techniques were practiced in ancient times,...