What is the difference between discrete and continuous manufacturing?

Discrete manufacturers can have a highly complex bill of materials (BOM), which may be parts or raw materials. Continuous-flow or Process manufacturers make stuff that has to be mixed from a formula or a recipe.

What is discrete manufacturing company?

Discrete manufacturing is often characterized by individual or separate unit production. Discrete Manufacturing companies make physical products that go directly to businesses and consumers, and assemblies that are used by other manufacturers.

What is an example of discrete manufacturing?

Discrete manufacturing is the production of distinct items. Cars, furniture, electronics and airplanes are examples of discrete manufacturing products.

Why is it called discrete manufacturing?

What is meant by discrete manufacturing is that the object being created is a distinct unit. You can divide non-distinct products, like oil, into any size you want. You cannot divide a teapot into two halves because it is a distinct unit.

Is ERP enough for complex discrete manufacturing?

On it’s own, an ERP is not enough for the complex manufacturing environment. Complex discrete manufacturing is different from other manufacturing sectors, because the process is configured to order, and engineered to order. Cycle times are long, and many BOM (bill of material) levels are improbably deep, at 6, 10, 30 levels.

What is complex discrete manufacturing?

Complex discrete manufacturing industries manufacture complex highly engineered products with longer product cycle times and multiple levels of subassemblies in their bills of material. Many of these companies make and engineer products to order. They make “discrete” product units, as in individually separate or distinct, and they need to track manufacturing history down to each serialized product unit.

What is the definition of process manufacturing?

process manufacturing. Manufacturing that involves the combination of supplies or ingredients according to formulas or recipes, rather than the assembly of discrete parts through mechanical processes.

What are manufacturing categories?

Most manufacturing environments fit into one of five general categories. Repetitive, Discrete, Job Shop, Process (batch), and Process (continuous). Most companies use more than one of these environments to get a single product out the door.