In most industries, there are some general approaches to managing manufacturing processes. These general approaches are called process types. In the LED light industry, process types are set up to manage the operation of volume variety manufacturing activities.

For a manufacturer of LED lights, various types of processes are classified to show the management methods of manufacturing operations with different characteristics of volume and variety. Based on increasing volume and decreasing variety, these types of processes are project processes, job processes, batch processes, mass processes, and continuous processes. These types of processes are widely applied in the LED tube industry. For example, it is very likely that the manufacturing activities of the LED bulb products are managed by the mass processes.

1. Project processes.

Project processes are the management activities to deal with highly customized projects, such as some custom-made products. For such custom projects, it takes a long time to finish the production of spare parts and the individual service part, not to mention the whole project. Therefore, in the LED light manufacturer’s project processes, the characteristics are low volume and high variety. The activities involved in the projects can be interrupted or modified by the uncertainty and the objective modified by the clients or the manufacturing processes. Examples of project processes include the stadium and tunnel LED lighting projects. The key point of project processes is that each activity has its own start time and end time. There may be a long time gap between jobs, as resources need to be allocated and staged for subsequent jobs.

2. Work processes.

Work processes are also designed to cope with high variety and low volumes. In the LED bulb manufacturer’s project processes, each product has its own assigned resources, in some cases they may be more or less exclusive to it. However, in work processes, each part or product needs to apply the resources of the operation with others. Manufacturing lines in work processes are making a series of products. These products may require the same resources and the same type of operation, but may differ in usage levels. Examples of work processes can be the LED lighting system in a warehouse. Such a project will require different types of LED tube and LED bulb products to achieve the lighting purposes. These products will need to install LED chips, LED driver and LED housing. However, their needs for the same resources will be different on assembly lines.

3. Batch processes.

In general practice, batch and worker processes may be similar, but batch processes have less variety compared to worker processes. As the term batch indicates, the output of each process will produce more than one piece of the product. On the manufacturing line, each individual operation has its own repeatable part. The single operation is repeated during batch production. If the batch size is small, just two or three pieces, batch processes will be almost the same as job processes. This is normally in the case of a new product. However, if the batch size is large and products are produced frequently on production lines, batch processes can be repetitive. Therefore, batch processes can support a wider range of volume and variety than other processes. Take a manufacturer of LED bulbs, for example. The manufacture of T12 LED tube light and T8 LED tube light can be batch process and the size will be large.

4. Mass processes.

Massive processes are designed to deal with high volume products but little variety, in terms of the design or mechanism of the products. LED tube light products can be an example. There are many types of tubes available, such as T12 LED tube light and T8 LED tube light. However, the manufacturing lines are still mass processes because the different characteristics or variants of the tubes do not affect the nature of the manufacturing activities. They are using the same processes, with just a few different spare parts installed on the lines. Most likely, processes in LED lighting production lines are repetitive and predictable. For example, the tubes are assembled first with the chips, then with the drivers, and finally with the housing. Of course, different tubes may use different types of LED chips, LED drivers, and housings.

5. Continuous processes.

Continuous processes are the next stop for massive processes, which work at higher volumes and less variety. These processes can be interpreted as production activities with a longer time scale. In some cases, manufacturing lines run endlessly to make a large number of products. These products seem inseparable and are needed in an endless stream. In some extreme cases, continuous processes are required to run continuously, as the operation needs to supply the products without interruption. These processes are typically designed to deal with relatively inflexible, capital-intensive technologies with highly predictable flow. So far, these processes are not applicable to the LED light industry, as LED tube or LED bulb products are not so popular in our daily life yet. Continuous processes are more suitable for steel and electrical companies.