LEARNING UNIT ONE:

INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW OF

MANUFACTURING

www.vut.ac.za

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South Africa Manufacturing sector contributed 13% to the GDP
(Global Domestic Product) and approximately 50% to total export
earning in year 2020.
INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW OF MANUFACTURING
GDP is the Gross domestic product i.e monetary measure of the
market value of all the final goods and services produced in a
specific time period by countries.

*reported Q2,2023 (ref statsSA)

The manufacturing industry increased Iron and steel products Food production industry
by 2,2% and contributed 0,3 of a industry accounted for 9.5% accounted for 7%
percentage point to GDP growth. Nine
of the ten manufacturing divisions
reported positive growth rates in the
second quarter.

Motor vehicle production

accounted for 23.7%

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 INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW OF MANUFACTURING

What is Manufacturing?
Manufacture is derived from two Latin words manus(hand) and factus (make); the combination means “made by hand”
“Manufacture” was first coined around 1567 A.D.
MODERN MANUFACTURING i.e automated and
“MADE BY HAND”
computer-controlled machinery
Manufacturing serves an important aspect in the world, technologically and economically purposes.

Technologically, manufacturing is the application of Economically, manufacturing is the transformation

physical and chemical processes to alter the geometry, of materials into items of higher value by means
properties, and/or appearance of a given starting of one or more processing and assembly
material to make parts or products for a specified operations. (value addition)
application.

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 INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW OF MANUFACTURING

Manufacturing is an important commercial activity performed by companies that sell products to customers. The type
of manufacturing conducted by a company will depend on the type of product that is manufactured.

INDUSTRIES

PRIMARY SECONDARY TERTIARY

Uses outputs from primary industries and
Cultivate and exploit the natural converts than into consumer goods and Service sector of the economy
resources e.g mining and agriculture capital goods e.g aerospace and automobile e.g education
✓ Manufacturing is the principal activity in
secondary industries.
Products made by manufacturing industries are classified as consumer goods and capital goods
Consumer goods = products purchased by the consumer e.g Computers and cars
Capital goods = products purchased by companies to produce goods and/or provide a service e.g machine tools and aircrafts

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 INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW OF MANUFACTURING

Two types of manufactured products

1. Discrete Products – individual parts e.g nuts and bolts
2. Continuous Products – continuous parts which are cut into individual parts of various lengths for a specific
purpose e.g aluminum foil

Production quantity refers to number of units/items produced for a particular type of product.
Production quantities can be classified into the following ranges: Low ; Medium and High Production

Product Variety refers to various product designs that are manufactured in a manufacturing plant – soft product
variety and hard product variety.
Product design is a critical activity in manufacturing as it accounts for the majority of the cost of product development.

Successful product designs require innovative approaches, clearly specified functions, product markets, etc.

Inverse relationship between product variety and Production quantity in

manufacturing;
-If product variety is high, then production quantity is low and vice versa.

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 INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW OF MANUFACTURING

Manufacturing plants consists of sets of processes and systems designed to transform a

range of materials into products of added value.

MATERIALS
Manufacturing adds value to
materials by either changing
shape or properties or by
MODERN
PROCESSES MANUFACTURING combining it with other
materials that have been
similarly altered

SYSTEMS
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 INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW OF MANUFACTURING

Manufacturing Capability refers to the technical and physical capabilities and limitations of a manufacturing plant. Factors
that affect manufacturing capabilities are the following:

- Technological Processing Capability of a company is its available set of manufacturing processes. Specialization in
processes.
Example: paint shop can not roll steel, while a rolling mill can not paint cars

- Physical Product limitations

Manufacturing plants are limited in terms of size and weight of products they can accommodate.
Example: heavy and large products will need cranes to be available, while production of small products will not.

- Production Capacity (plant capacity or production capacity)

Manufacturing plants are limited in the production quantity that can be produced over a certain time period. Defined as
the maximum rate of production that a plant can achieve under assumed operating conditions.

Approaches to improving manufacturing productivity: Waste Reduction!!

• Selection of best possible processing routes. We need to reduce
• Improving the existing manufacturing technologies. waste while
• Develop new manufacturing technologies maintaining high
productivity.

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 INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW OF MANUFACTURING

Why is Manufacturing?
Manufacturing transforms raw materials into value-added products utilizing processing and assembly
operations. Manufacturing processes are the science and technology of making value-added products, these
processes must be done effectively, efficiently, and economically and must also be environmentally friendly.

Economically, manufacturing is an important means by which a nation creates wealth. Think China!!

Manufacturing is necessary for the following:

• Creation of job opportunities
• Improve the economy of a country
• Promote trading in a country
• Majority of services rely on manufactured goods

The innovation found in the manufacturing industry has helped to increase economic productivity. Since
the Industrial Revolution, the way we produce and consume goods has significantly changed, and it is
innovation that allowed (and continues to allow) the nation to become increasingly more productive in
the services offered.

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 INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW OF MANUFACTURING

HISTORY OF
MANUFACTURING
TECHNOLOGY

Empirical way of how goods are manufactured:

𝐶𝑅𝐸𝐴𝑇𝐼𝑂𝑁 𝑂𝐹 𝐺𝑂𝑂𝐷𝑆 = 𝑁𝐴𝑇𝑈𝑅𝐴𝐿 𝑅𝐸𝑆𝑂𝑈𝑅𝐶𝐸𝑆 × 𝑀𝐴𝑁𝑃𝑂𝑊𝐸𝑅𝑀𝐴𝐶𝐻𝐼𝑁𝐸 𝑇𝑂𝑂𝐿𝑆