- Used when demand is higher and more regular.
- Production consists of a number of operations.
- Products are produced in “batches”.
- Appropriate for manufacturing businesses.
Advantages
- Flexibility: each batch can be altered to meet customers’ wishes.
- Skilled workers are not needed, which decreases costs.
- Machinery is more standardised, also decreases costs.
- Firms can respond quickly to changes in demand.
Disadvantages
- Machinery could be more complex to compensate for the lower skill levels required from the workers.
- The workforce is less motivated.
- Money will be tied up in work-in-progress, since an order cannot be dispatched until the whole batch has been finished.
