Making things

Products

A product can be :

• something natural
• something made to be sold
• a service

Produce refers to agricultural products such as crops or fruit.

For example, you can buy fresh produce at a farmers’ market.

Something that is made is produced or manufactured.

A country or company that produces something is a maker of manufacturer of manufactured goods

Words

Verb	Noun : person/organization	Noun : process	Noun : thing
make	maker	X	X
manufacture	manufacturer	manufacturing	manufactured goods
produce : non-food	producer	production	product
produce : food	producer	production	produce

Additional Words

barley /ˈbɑːli $ ˈbɑːrli/ n.

[uncountable] a plant that produces a grain used for making food or alcohol

Mass production

I’m Steve and I’m head of car pruduction at a manufacturing plant. ‘Plant’ sounds more modern than factory or works. On the assembly line we mass-produce cars. The plant is highly automated: we use a lot of machinery. These robots are part of the CADCAM system of computer-assisted design and manufacturing.

My name’s Luke. I have a little workshop where I produce furniture ordered by individual customers. We don’t use machnery: the furniture is hand-made. Producing furniture like this is a craft industry. It’s very labour-intensive : it takes a lot of work to produce each piece. Many people dislike the furniture that big companies churn out in large numbers on their production lines, so we have a lot of customers.

Words

mass-produce vt.

to produce something in large amounts using machinery. so that each object is the same and can be sold cheaply

The gun was simpler and easier to mass-produce than its German rival.

mass production n.

[uncountable] when products are made in large numbers by machines so that they can be sold cheaply

assembly /əˈsembli/ ★☆☆ n.

[countable] a group of people whe are elected to make decision or laws for particular country, area or organization

the General Assemply of the Church of Scotland

[countable, uncountable] the metting together of a group of people for a particular purpose

Police have imposed conditions on public assemblies.

[countable, uncountable] a regular meeting of all the teachers and students of a school

[uncountable] teh process of putting the parts of something together

assembly line.

craft industry

an industry which is lead by jobs or activities in which you make things with your hands, and that you usually need skill to do

BrE labour-intensive ArE labor-intensive OPP capital-intensive

an industry or type of work that is labour-intensive needs a lot of workers

labour-intensive farming methods

churn out phv.

to produce large quantities of something, especailly without caring about quality

She’s been churning out novels for 20 years.

Capacity and output

Output is the number or type of things that a plant, company, industry or country produces. Productivity is a measure of how much is produced in relation to the number of employees.

High output per employee = high productivity.

The maximum amount that a particular plant, company or industry can produce is its capacity. If it is producing this amount, it is working at full capacity. If it is producing more than what is needed, there is overproduction or :

• excess capacity
• spare capacity
• overcapacity
• surplus capacity

These expressions can also be used in service industries.

If far too many things are produced, there is a glut of these things. If not enough goods are being produced, there is a shortage.

Note : overproduction = excess capacity = spare capacity = overcapacity = surplus capacity = glut OPP shortage

Words

productivity /ˌprɒdʌkˈtɪvəti, -dək- $ ˌprɑː-/ ★☆☆ n.

[uncountable] the rate at which goods are produced, and the amount produced, especially in relation to the work, time, and money needed to produce them

ways of increasing productivity

capacity /kəˈpæsəti/ ★★☆ W3 n.

[singular] the amount of space a container, room etc has to hold things or people

The fuel tank has a capacity of 40 litres.

[countable, uncountable] someone’s ability to do something OPP incapacity

a child’s capacity for learning

a capacity to think in an original way

[singular, uncountable] the amount of something that a factory, company, machine etc can produce or deal with

The company has the capacity to build 1,500 trucks a year.

The factory has been working at full capacity

working at full capacity n.

making the most amount of things that it can

It is the end of this time : )