Key Idea: Six systems on one axis: craft, mechanised, automated, mass, batch and just-in-time — running from one-off and skilled to high-volume and capital-heavy. Moving along the axis buys unit cost, speed and consistency and costs flexibility, setup capital and lead time to change. Volume decides the system, and volume is a number: one-off, dozens, thousands, millions. Real products are hybrid — a car body is automated, its trim is assembly-line, its bespoke options are craft. The factory shapes the product: the process a product will be made by changes the product's geometry, material and tolerances before it is designed.
Paper 1 — multiple choice
- Match a product to its production system
- Identify what batch production buys
- Recognise just-in-time from a description
- Say what automation does to unit cost and flexibility
Paper 2 — analysing a product
- Identify the system from evidence on the product itself
- Justify a system for a stated volume and budget
- Explain why a product uses more than one system
- Analyse what changing the volume would change
Carried into the design project
- Criterion E — state the intended volume before the process
- A single prototype is craft; say what would change at 10,000
- Tolerances must match the process you have named
The six are not six separate topics — they are positions on one axis, and knowing the order means you can reason about any of them from the volume alone.
| System | Typical volume | What it buys, and what it costs |
|---|---|---|
| Craft | One-off to a handful | Complete flexibility and a bespoke result; high unit cost, slow, and every piece is slightly different |
| Mechanised | Tens to hundreds | A machine does the work, a person still controls it — cheaper and more repeatable than craft, still easy to change |
| Automated | Thousands upwards | The machine controls itself — very low unit cost and tight consistency; large capital outlay and slow to reconfigure |
| Mass | Hundreds of thousands upwards | The lowest possible unit cost through a dedicated line; the line makes one thing, and changing it is a project |
| Batch | Dozens to thousands, in runs | One set of equipment makes several products in turn; the setup time between runs is the price |
| Just-in-time | Any volume, with reliable supply | Almost no stock held, so little capital tied up and little waste; one late delivery stops the line |
The six on one axis, with unit cost and flexibility moving in opposite directions along it.
Interactive diagram
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Important: Naming a system without the volume that justifies it — the volume IS the reason. Confusing mechanised with automated: mechanised still has a person controlling the machine. Treating a product as one system when a real product almost always uses several. Recommending mass production for a school project — a one-off prototype is craft, and saying so is the honest answer.
| Evidence on the product | What it points to | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Identical units, no visible variation | Automated or mass | Only machine control holds a tolerance across thousands of units |
| Draft angles, ejector-pin marks, a split line | Injection moulding, so mass or high-volume batch | Those features exist only because a tool had to open |
| Slight variation between units, tool marks | Craft or mechanised | A person was in the loop |
| A family of sizes sharing one set of features | Batch | One set of tooling, run several times with changes between |
| Many bought-in sub-assemblies, little stock on site | Just-in-time assembly | The value is in assembling, not in holding parts |
Volume against unit cost, with the crossover where tooling stops being an expense and starts being a saving.
Interactive diagram
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Mechanised has a person; automated does not. Volume decides the system — give a number. Tooling is a fixed cost: it is ruinous at 100 units and trivial at 100,000. Batch's cost is changeover time. Just-in-time trades stock for fragility — no buffer means no tolerance for a late supplier.
A ceramic mug sold in a museum shop is made in runs of 500. Analyse the production system used and explain what would change if annual sales rose to 200,000.
Model answer plan
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A start-up expects to sell 2,000 bicycle lights in its first year and possibly 50,000 in its third. Justify a production system for year one.
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.
Explain why a car manufacturer using just-in-time supply is more exposed to disruption than one holding six weeks of stock.
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.
Name the six production systems.
What is the difference between mechanised and automated?
How do you identify a system from the product?
Why is the honest answer usually hybrid?
Why does tooling cost change the answer so much?
What does just-in-time trade away?
Exam tips
- Give a volume in numbers whenever you name a system.
- Say whether a person controls the machine — that is mechanised versus automated.
- Look for mould seams, draft angles and ejector marks as evidence of high volume.
- Answer hybrid when the product is hybrid, and say which system does which part.
- Divide the tooling cost by the volume before calling it expensive.
- For just-in-time, always name what stops the line.