Job production

Part of a series of articles on
Industry
Manufacturing methods Batch production • Job production Continuous production
Improvement methods LM • TPM • QRM • VDM TOC • Six Sigma • RCM
Information & communication ISA-88 • ISA-95 • ERP SAP • IEC 62264 • B2MML
Process control PLC • DCS

Job production, sometimes called jobbing, involves producing custom work, that is, a one-off product for a specific customer or a small batch of work not intended for mass market. Job production is most often associated with small firms (making railings for a specific house, building/repairing a computer for a specific customer, making flower arrangements for a specific wedding etc.) but large firms use job production too. Examples include:

• Designing and implementing an advertising campaign
• Auditing the accounts of a large public limited company
• Building a new factory
• Installing machinery in a factory
• Machining a batch of parts per a CAD drawing supplied by a customer

Fabrication shops and machine shops whose work is primarily of the job production type are often called job shops. The associated people or corporations are sometimes called jobbers.

Benefits and disadvantages

Key benefits of job production include:

• can provide emergency parts or services, such as quickly making a machine part that would take a long time to acquire otherwise
• can provide parts or services for machinery or systems that are otherwise not available, as when the original supplier no longer supports the product or goes out of business (orphaned)
• work is generally of a high quality
• a high level of customisation is possible to meet the customer's exact requirements
• significant flexibility is possible, especially when compared to mass production
• workers can be easily motivated due to the skilled nature of the work they are performing

Disadvantages include:

• higher cost of production
• re-engineering: sometimes engineering drawings or an engineering assessment, including calculations or specifications, needs to be made before the work can be done
• requires the use of specialist labour (compare with the repetitive, low-skilled jobs in mass production)
• slow compared to other methods (batch production and mass production)

Essential features

There are a number of features that should be implemented in a job production environment, they include:

• Clear definitions of objectives should be set.
• Clearly outlined decision making process.

See also

• Batch production
• Craft production
• Instant manufacturing
• Just In Time
• Lean manufacturing
• Manufacturing
• Mass production
• Odd job
• Piece work
• Production, costs, and pricing