The car assembly line is manufacturing systems in which work-in-progress moves from station to station in a sequential fashion. At each workstation, new parts are added or new assemblies take place, resulting in a finished product at the end.

Image of an assembly line, a manufacturing method that emerged after the industrial revolution, showing operators assembling work in progress at different stations.

Assembly lines are manufacturing systems in which work-in-progress moves from station to station in a sequential fashion.

Assembly expedited the entire manufacturing process by conveying semi-finished products from process to process. This was a massive improvement to previous methods, in which complex production routing and disconnected processes added complexity to assemblies.

Further, assembly lines enabled workers to develop process-specific expertise that helped full lines work more efficiently.

As a result, manufacturers could finish complex products like cars, aircraft, and industrial machines at a greater rate with more precision than ever before.