Systemising Production: Choosing Your Production Process

Stop Guessing, Start Scaling: Choosing the Right Production Process for Your Sellable Product

If your business is generating significant revenue ($1M-$10M), you’ve likely realised that producing your product or service consistently and efficiently is the core of your profitability. But as you scale, the ad-hoc way you started making things simply breaks. Your challenge, like that of many scaling owners, is choosing the right production process to build a predictable, repeatable system.

Choosing your process is the foundational step in systemising production and directly impacts quality, cost, and time-to-market. Let's look at the options and how to formalise them.

Understanding the Production Process Spectrum

Not all products are created equal, and neither are the processes used to make them. Your choice depends heavily on your volume and the variety of customisation you offer.

1. The Jobbing Process (Low Volume, High Variety)

• What it is: The process creates one-off or unique products tailored to a specific customer's request (e.g., custom suits, specialised consulting projects).

• System Impact: Requires highly skilled labour and flexible, often non-standardised, procedures. It's built for complexity, not speed.

2. Batch Production (Medium Volume, Medium Variety)

• What it is: Products are made in groups or "batches" (e.g., a run of 500 shirts in one colour, or monthly training cohorts).

• System Impact: You gain some efficiency from repeating tasks for the batch, but there is still flexibility for changeovers between batches. It offers a good balance for growing businesses with a moderate product line.

3. Mass Production (High Volume, Low Variety)

• What it is: The creation of standardised products in very high quantities, often using assembly lines (e.g., basic consumer electronics, fast-food items).

• System Impact: Extreme efficiency and low unit cost are key. The system must be highly rigid, optimised for speed, and documented down to the second.

For modern businesses like yours, the goal is often mass customisation. This is the holy grail: delivering high volumes of products while still allowing for a degree of individual tailoring (e.g., configuring a laptop online, or using a core service framework with custom add-ons).

• The System Solution: The production system must separate the common, high-volume production modules (standard components) from the low-volume, customizable assembly or finishing modules. This allows you to achieve the efficiency of mass production in the beginning and the high-value appeal of customisation at the end.

“Efficiency is doing better what is already being done.” — Peter Drucker.

Choosing the right process ensures you’re being efficient in the right way for your market.

Creating Your Production System Procedure and Policies

Once you choose your process, you must turn it into a documented system. This structure is what frees you, the owner, from constant involvement.

• Detailed Procedures: These are the "how-to" steps that detail every task: how to assemble component A, how to process the customer order, etc.

• Overarching Policies: These are the "what" and "why" ¹¹that govern the procedures (e.g., "All products must pass a 3-point quality check," "All materials must be sourced from approved suppliers")¹². This provides quality assurance and consistency.

Ready to Systemise Your Output?

You’re ready to scale operations and are seeking a streamlined approach to managing time, resources, and workforce¹⁵¹⁵. Stop letting an informal production method limit your growth potential.

Download our free decision-making tool today!

It's a powerful first step to help you pinpoint your current challenges ¹⁶ and see exactly where your production system needs professional structure to handle your next phase of growth.

Downlod the free decision-making tool