Industrial Manufacturing Activity can broadly be divided into the followings ways:

Mass Production Large lots e, g, Automobiles : In this the volume of production is very high raining from a few thousand to millions per annum. The very high volume justified the use of special purpose machines and transfer lines to decrease the cost of production substantially. Also these ensure that a very high degree of accuracy can be achieved with these systems. However these manufacturing methods once designed and fabricated are very inflexible and can only be used for a single product. Further the lead time taken from the product design stage to the setting up of the manufacturing facility is very large varying with the product design stage to the setting up of the manufacturing facility is very large varying with the product. For example in this category are the automobiles typewriters etc.