13: Making vs. Manufacturing

This brief chapter asserts that there is a "considerable difference" between making and manufacturing, though he expresses that this is largely a matter of scale. If only a few items are produced, it is "making" but if many are produced it is "manufacturing." Though he does suggest that there are manufacturing operations that produce a small number of very large objects, such as ships.

He then suggests that the difference is best assessed by the need to employ machinery in order to produce in sixe or quantity. He gives the example of a smith who, among other things, made iron tanks by hand - but when he received an order from the government to produce forty tanks a week for several months, the magnitude of the order required him to acquire tools and equipment and hire a significant number of laborers to supply the quantity needed.

He also notes that making generally focuses on the quality of a small number of items, whereas manufacturing tends to focus on making a large quantity and the inessential elements of a product are stripped away for the sake of efficiency as the manufacturer seeks to optimize his production.