Manufacturing Process Types of the LED Light Industry

In most industries, there are some general approaches to managing manufacturing processes. These general approaches are called process types. In the LED light industry, process types are configured to manage the operation of manufacturing activities of a wide variety of volumes.

For LED Light Manufacturers, several types of processes are classified to show the methods of managing manufacturing operations with different volume and variety characteristics. Based on increasing volume and declining variety, these types of processes are project processes, work processes, batch processes, mass processes, and continuous processes. These types of processes are widely applied in the LED pipe industry. For example, the manufacturing activities of LED bulb products are likely to be managed by mass processes.

1. Project processes

Project processes are management activities to deal with highly customized projects, such as some bespoke products. For such custom projects, it takes a long time to finish the production of spare parts and the individual service part, let alone the whole project. Therefore, in the project processes of the LED light manufacturer, the features are low volume and a wide variety.

The activities involved in the projects can be interrupted or changed by uncertainty and the objective changed by customers or manufacturing processes. Examples of project processes include stadium and tunnel LED lighting projects. The key point of the project processes is that each activity has its own start time and end time. There can be a long time interval between jobs because resources must be allocated and organized for the following jobs.

2. Jobbing processes

The work processes are also designed to cope with a wide variety and low volumes. In the project processes of the LED bulb manufacturer, each product has its own resources allocated, in some cases, it may be more or less exclusive to it. However, in worker processes, each part or product needs to apply the operation resources with others. Manufacturing lines in work processes are making a number of products.

These products may require the same resources and the same type of operation but may differ in usage levels. Examples of work processes can be the LED lighting system of a warehouse. Such a project will require different types of LED tube and LED bulb products to achieve luminous purposes. These products must install LED chips, LED driver and LED housing. However, your needs for the same resources will be different on assembly lines.

3. Batch processes

In general practice, batch processing and worker processes may be similar, but batch processes have less variety compared to worker processes. As indicated by the term batch, the output of each process will generate more than one part of the product. On the manufacturing line, each operation has its own repeatable part. The individual operation is repeated during batch production. If the batch size is small, only two or three parts, the batch processes will be almost the same as the worker processes. This is usually in the case of a new product.

However, if the lot size is large and the products are frequently manufactured on production lines, the batch processes can be repetitive. Therefore, batch processes can support a wider range of volume and variety, compared to other processes. Take a manufacturer of LED bulbs, for example. The manufacture of T12 LED tube light and T8 LED tube light can be a batch process, and the size will be large.

4. Mass processes

Mass processes are designed to treat high-volume but low-variety products, in terms of product design or mechanism. LED tube light products can be an example. There are many types of tubes available, such as T12 LED tube light and T8 LED tube light. However, manufacturing lines remain mass processes because the different characteristics or variants of the pipes do not affect the nature of the manufacturing activities.

They are using the same processes, with only a few different spare parts installed on the lines. The processes in the LED light production lines are probably repetitive and predictable. For example, the tubes are assembled first with the chips, then with the controllers and finally with the housing. Of course, different tubes can use different types of LED chips, LED drivers and housing.

5. Continuous processes

Continuous processes are the next stop of mass processes, which work at higher volume and less variety. These processes can be interpreted as the most time-scaled production activities. In some cases, manufacturing lines work non-stop to produce a large number of products. These products seem inseparable and are needed in an endless flow. In some extreme cases, continuous processes are required to operate continuously, as the operation needs to supply the goods without interruption.

These processes are typically designed to deal with relatively inflexible, capital-intensive technologies with a highly predictable flow. So far, these processes are not applicable to the LED Light Manufacturers industry, as an LED tube or LED bulb products are still not as popular in our daily lives. Continuous processes are best suited for steel manufacturing and electricity services.