Manufacturing is the transformation of raw materials into finished goods for sale by means of tools and a processing medium, and including all intermediate processes involving the production or finishing of component parts ("semi-manufactures").

It is a large branch of industry and of secondary production. Some industries, like semiconductor and steel manufacturers use the term "fabrication".

While it remains a huge part of the modern world economy—perhaps a quarter of aggregate world production of goods and services—many of the world's wealthier nations devote an ever smaller proportion of their workforce to manufacturing activity owing to relocation of enterprises to lower-wage countries and the rising proportion of economic activity devoted to service activity.

Context

---

• The economics and commercial management of a manufacturing company is covered in Business.
• The classification of those Businesses is covered in Industry.
• The economic decisions taken within this activity is covered in Production.
• The law as applied to businesses in covered in Commercial Law.
• The general management of a business is in Management (see also: General manager).
• The political impact of the development of industry is covered in Political economy
• The use of computer technology is covered by Product Lifecycle Management.

History and development

---

Although handicraft production has existed for many millennia, modern-style manufacturing is generally regarded as beginning around 1780 with the British Industrial Revolution, spreading thereafter to Continental Europe and North America, and subsequently around the world. Originally, the term applied to commodities or artifacts which were "made by hand".

• The beginnings of manufacturing is covered in the Industrial Revolution.
• The development of the manufacturing facility is covered in the Factory.
• The development of the applied science behind manufacturing is covered in Industrial processes.
• The changing methods of Manufacturing are covered in Manufacturing Systems in the main article.

Taxonomy of manufacturing processes

---

Taxonomy of manufacturing processes (separate page)

Manufacturing systems

---

• Craft or Guild system
• English system of manufacturing
• American System of manufacturing
• Soviet collectivism in manufacturing
• Mass production
• Just In Time manufacturing
• Lean manufacturing
• Flexible manufacturing
• Mass customization
• Agile manufacturing
• Rapid manufacturing
• Prefabrication

Theories

---

• Taylorism
• Fordism
• Scientific management

Control

---

• Management
  • List of management topics
  • Total Quality Management
• Quality control
  • Six Sigma

Manufacturing engineering

---

• Production engineering
• Industrial Engineering
• Manufacturing Engineering
• Manufacturing Systems Engineering
• Computer-aided manufacturing
• Computer integrated manufacturing
• Numerically controlled
• Computer numerically controlled
• Distributed Control Systems
• Fieldbus control systems
• Programmable logic controllers

Assembly systems

---

• Assembly line
• Industrial robot

Design

---

• Rapid prototyping
• Computer aided design
• New product development
• Toolkits for User Innovation
• Configuration systems

Others

---

• Primary industry
• Factory
• Distributor
• Warehouse
• Wholesaler
• Retailer
• Consumer

Lists of related topics

---

• list of engineering topics
• list of management topics
• list of production topics
• list of marketing topics
• list of economics topics
• list of international trade topics
• list of finance topics
• list of accounting topics
• list of information technology management topics
• list of business law topics
• list of human resource management topics
• list of business theorists
• list of economists
• list of corporate leaders

External links

---

• http://www.coolstuffbeingmade.com - A collection of videos of how things are made in America
• http://lfm.mit.edu - The Leaders for Manufacturing program at MIT combines graduate education in engineering and management. LFM's goal is to teach guiding principles for world-class manufacturing and operations.
• http://www.unido.org - United Nations Industrial Development Organization.
• http://www.manubiz.com - Technology solutions for the manufacturing sector
• http://www.shopfloor.org - A Blog About Manufacturing
• The Six Sigma Zone
• http://malaysiamanufacturer.blogspot.com - A Blog About Manufacturer in Malaysia
• Manufacturing Data for the United States
• http://www.nam.org - The National Association of Manufacturers Web site
• http://manufacturing.stanford.edu - A site with videos showing the manufacturing process for many everyday things
• http://www.themanufacturer.com/ - A site consisting of news and articles about US and UK manufacturing industries

Industry | Manufacturing

Fabrikation | Montage (Produktion) | Manufactura | Muntado | Productieproces | 製造業 | Manufaktura | Manufatura