The production process is a set of tasks and procedures required by a company to realize the production of goods and services. It can also be defined as a series of necessary operations that are carried out in a planned and sequential manner to achieve the processing of products. The production process is performed by companies, which use the information and technology employed by people to manufacture products.
What are the phases of the production cycle?
Production processes follow a series of different phases, among the most relevant:
- Raw materials procurement
At this first phase of the production process, the company gathers all the raw materials that will be essential for the production of goods that it will later deliver to the market, after defining the production objective. Companies then try to obtain the greatest amount of raw materials at the lowest possible cost by contacting its suppliers and choosing the ones that provide them with the best prices and the best input quality. All while taking into account transportation and inventory related costs - Production
In this second phase, the transformation of raw materials and inputs to be converted into products occurs. They are basically dealing with the process of manufacturing goods and services, maintaining strict quality checks to meet the required quality standards. Compliance with quality standards will depend on whether or not customers are satisfied with the products. If the products delivered to the market meet the demand, the company will be able to make profits and gains. - Product adjustment
This last phase of the process is directly orientated to the marketing of goods and services. Here it is possible to assess whether the goals set by the company have been achieved and to make any necessary corrections if errors have been made. Finally, in this phase the company will set the price at which the manufactured products will be marketed, taking into account the costs incurred throughout the process and considering a profit margin.
Production process control
Controls of industrial production processes play an important role as they allow the detection of breakdowns and unexpected events, while keeping the operating parameters of machines constantly monitored.
Controls can be carried out by hand or digitally, depending on the needs and type of production. The goal of these operations is to always maintain safety standards and continuously improve the processes themselves.
What is production control?
Production control consists of all the management activities, checking and constantly monitoring a company’s production process. This ranges from the arrival of raw materials, through production and quality control of the finished product, to the arrival at the distribution channel.
All these processes entail the collection and management of large amounts of data, which can be handled and monitored by special production control computer systems. Through production control, it is therefore possible to analyze procedures and detect in real time any risks, waste and errors at any stage of production.