When most people think about industrial manufacturing, they think of heavy equipment, grease, and loud noises. However, industrial manufacturing is a broad term that refers to a large number of industries. Some may seem more familiar, including metal manufacturing. However, food production and clothing manufacture are also common fields in industrial manufacturing.
What is Industrial Manufacturing?
Global Edge defines industrial manufacturing as a process that transforms raw materials into commodified products on a large scale. In addition to this rather simple definition, other common markers of industrial manufacturing include the use of mechanical labor, assembly-line production, efficiency evaluations, and, in most developed countries, heavy regulation. In essence, industrial manufacture applies to any industry that uses machines to produce products at high rates of efficiency in large quantities.
What Types of Industrial Manufacturing Industries are There?
There a literally dozens of different industries with examples of industrial manufacturing; however, that does not mean that the entire industry uses practices that would cause them to fall into the category of industrial manufacturing. Each of the following industries contains major providers whose practices do fit the industrial manufacturing model according to the Sustainable Development Indicator Group:
- Apparel
- Chemicals
- Electronics
- Fabricated Metals
- Foodstuffs
- Furniture and Fixtures
- Industrial and Commercial Machinery
- Leather
- Lumber and Wood
- Measuring, Analyzing, and Controlling Instruments
- Paper
- Petroleum Refining
- Printing and Publishing
- Rubber and Miscellaneous Plastics
- Stone, Clay, Glass, and Concrete
- Textiles
- Tobacco
- Transportation Equipment
The list is both large and diverse, yet all of these industries have one thing in common: the need for reliable equipment to keep the process working smoothly.
Centralizing Equipment in the Manufacturing Process
Regardless of how good your equipment is when you first start out, the connections between different parts or symptoms will always be the weak points where things can easily go wrong. As a result, during their initial setup, as well as during routine maintenance, the seals and sealants that keep your manufacturing system running smoothly should be your first concern.
For more than twenty years, Real Seal has been manufacturing seal systems and mechanical component products. As noted experts in the field, they emphasize the importance of medium quantity and local production for domestic companies. Each manufacturing system is unique, requiring a level of specialization and customer service, which can’t be achieved with larger or foreign providers.
Maintaining and Replacing Equipment
If any part of an industrial system fails, there is the potential that is could slow down or stop production for days or even weeks at a time. Given the potential loss of production and profit, it is vital to properly maintain industrial equipment. Researchers at Cal Poly Pomona San Luis Obispo suggest that having a set schedule for maintenance and a system for deciding when an element should be replaced are crucial to the long-term success of an industrial manufacturing system.
A cost-benefit analysis is key in these situations, with the majority of the evidence siding with initially using high-quality equipment rather than repeatedly replacing inferior equipment. At its root, it comes down to establishing the efficiency of your equipment by minimizing the manufacturing process while simultaneously minimizing potential down-days.
The State of Manufacturing
Overall, industrial manufacturing is a core part of the American, economic process. Without it, many of the consumer goods you buy every day would cost more, be less accessible, and demonstrate less predictability in terms of quality. We gain convenience and efficiency due to the industrial processes’ ability to maximize efficiency, but it also requires that manufacturers invest in regular maintenance and high-quality solutions that continue to maintain the quality and predictability that we expect.
