Limited affordable low-volume manufacturing: summary of a workshop

Limited Affordable Low-Volume Manufacturing is the summary of a workshop convened by the National Materials and Manufacturing Board of the National Research Council in August 2013 to discuss affordable, low-volume manufacturing.

The workshop focused on four critical issues relevant to manufacturing: low-volume manufacturing; use of commercial off-the-shelf equipment; short production runs; and commercial manufacturing services.

The workshop discussion also considered variable-rate manufacturing and high-mix manufacturing, both aspects of low-volume manufacturing.

This report examines the characteristics of low-volume manufacturing and considers future advances in limited affordable low-volume manufacturing in the United States.