Job production - this involves producing a tailor-made custom item for the customer, usually it is a one-off production. This type of production is often undertaken by small local businesses.

Benefits:

• It can meet customer needs exactly
• The quality of work is usually high as all work is concentrated on a single item
• Easier to motivate workers as they are involved with making the product from start to finish
• Flexibility to produce whatever is required
• Easier to add value due to the specialist work that is undertaken
• Little stock is tied up

Limitations:

• No opportunities to benefit from economies of scale
• There are higher costs of production
• Labour is more likely to be skilled, therefore harder to recruit
• It will be a slower process
• Difficult to price the product that is made

Batch Production - this is when you make only enough products to meet the demand of orders and then switch to make different products.

Benefits:

• Able to produce larger quantities than job production
• There may be some economies of scale depending on the batch size
• Batch production is generally faster than job production
• There is more flexibility than flow production

Limitations:

• There may be a time delay between batches where nothing is produced (downtime)
• Increased downtime reduces the level of output
• More storage space is needed for goods, which increases costs
• More raw resources are needed, which increases costs

Flow production - a continuous process of production where usually conveyor-belt takes the product along all the stages of production.

Benefits:

• Business is able to gain benefits from economies of scale
• Lower unit cost of production
• Business can produce a standardised product
• Because process is continuous there is little downtime
• Enables high demand to be met with more goods being produced

Limitations:

• The initial set-up costs are very high
• A lot of planning needs to be done to organise the production system
• Lacks flexibility to produce a wide range of products
• If any part of the line stops the whole production is stopped

Cell production - this is splitting employees into teams which as a whole will produce the entire product between them.

Benefits:

• Improved working conditions as employees work in a team
• There are opportunities for job rotation

Drawbacks:

• Possible lower maximum output
• Small batches may not use machinery to full capacity

The decision to change the type of production will depend on the:

• Nature of the products involved
• Cost of the machinery needed
• Budget of the business
• The competition in their market
• Objectives of the business
• Views of the stakeholders in the business