There are four approaches that are used in manufacturing to produce products and services. The goal of the operations manager is to create a process that can produce products that meet customers' expectations of quality, cost, and delivery. Most product production or service provisions use some variant of one of four process strategies:
Process focus: low volume, high–variety, such as restaurants, hospitals, and machine shops.
Repetitive focus: components pre-assembled, modular, classic assembly line, such as fast-food restaurants.
Product focus: high volume, low-variety, high fixed cost, continuous process, such as a company making unique products each day.
Mass customization: high-volume, high-variety, many parts and component inputs, such as laptops and notebooks.
Question:
There are trade-offs that occur when a process layout is used, as well as trade-offs that occur when a product layout is used. In what ways are they similar? Explain and justify your view.