Processes

Businesses may produce their goods using a number of different processes. The most common of these are:

• Manufacturing - this is another word for 'making' and refers to the process of taking raw materials and turning them into a product that can be sold.
• Assembly - this is simply another form of manufacturing, where component parts are put together to make a finished item.
• Processing - this involves taking raw materials and putting them through a process that changes them in order to produce a finished product, for example, iron ore is smelted in order to produce steel.
• Refining - this involves removing impurities or unwanted parts from a raw material in order to obtain a finished product, for example, petrol is refined from crude oil.