Mass production methods originated during the First Industrial Revolution and have developed and matured ever since, making high-volume, highly automated manufacturing with economies of scale and low error rates possible. But traditional mass production doesn’t meet industries’ need for uniquely engineered components and products.
Many industries—automotive, aerospace, medical, architectural, energy, electronics, and consumer products, for example—need custom-manufactured one-off or small-batch parts and products. Those needs don’t often align with assembly-line mass production, where standardization is very high and implementing design changes is difficult and expensive. Custom manufacturing requires more interaction between client and producer and more human involvement with the manufacturing process than mass production to make design iterations for unlimited customization possible. Engineering a custom product is also easier using the highly reconfigurable machines used for custom manufacturing.
By its nature, custom manufacturing tends to result in higher costs and longer production times than mass production, because the upfront cost of designing, engineering, and testing a bespoke component is amortized over a smaller number of manufactured components. However, using advanced manufacturing software like Autodesk Fusion to facilitate remote collaboration on design reviews and to simulate virtual prototype testing can help narrow that gap. Fusion’s unique ability to combine both additive manufacturing and subtractive manufacturing (also known as hybrid manufacturing) in a single environment also has the potential to simplify the production of custom-made parts and products.
