RTA Contest student teams should be able to talk about the following processes and terms:

1. Definition of Industry-an industry is the sum total of all the activities and jobs required to produce a product which can be sold for a profit.
2. Essentials of Industry-every industry has three essentials: natural resources, human resources, and capital resources. Without these, industry could not function.
3. a. Natural Resources-Raw materials such as water, metals, minerals, trees, and petroleum.
4. b. Human Resources-human mental effort and physical energy-e.g. inventors, planners, supervisors, and skilled work force.
5. c. Capital Resources-money, factories, machine tools, electricity and mechanical power, transportation and communication, and cash flow.
   1. Mass Customization/Production-is the continuous production of quantities of goods or articles manufactured by machinery and the specialization of labor using interchangeable parts.  The main considerations in mass customization/production are: interchangeable parts, automatic delivery systems, specialized labor, and elimination of wasted motion and effort.
   2. Elements of Industry-mass customization/production is broken up into six basic elements: organization, finance & control, research & development, industrial relations, production, and marketing.
   3. Organization is the appointment jobs and duties to people so an industry will be successful.  Two types of organization are:
      1. Line Manufacturing-oldest and simplest form of organization.
      2. Cellular Manufacturing-is a model for workplace design, and is an integral part of lean manufacturing systems. The goal of lean manufacturing is the aggressive minimization of waste, to achieve maximum efficiency of resources. Cellular manufacturing, sometimes called cellular or cell production, arranges factory floor labor into semi-autonomous and multi-skilled teams, or work cells, which manufacture complete products or complex components. Properly trained and implemented cells are more flexible and responsive than the traditional mass-production line, and can manage processes, defects, scheduling, equipment maintenance, and other manufacturing issues more efficiently.
         1. Finance and Control-finance in industry is controlling and handling all the industry’s capital (money) and keeping records on how the capital is spent and received.  Control is the owning of an industry.  There are 3 common types of ownership; proprietorship, partnership, and corporation.
         2. a. Proprietorship-one person owns the company and is legally responsible for all aspects of the company.
         3. b. Partnership-two or more owners.
         4. c. Corporation-this form of ownership creates an artificial person, whose rights and responsibilities are defined by law.
            1. Research and Development-is the planning of new products and the improvement of old ones to meet the needs of people who purchase and use them.
            2. Industrial Relations-may involve many different areas such as writing job descriptions, setting up training programs, and other benefits for employees.  However, a large part of industrial relations is hiring of personnel: recruiting, selecting, and inducting.
            3. Production-is the making of the product and involves four operations in which humans and machines change raw material into products which can be sold for a profit: cutting, forming, fastening, and finishing.  There are two types of production: mass customization and mass production.
               1. a. Mass production-is the production of large amounts of standardized products, including and especially based on assembly lines.
               2. b. Mass customization is the use of flexible, computer-aided manufacturing systems to produce custom output. Those systems combine the low unit costs of mass production processes with the flexibility of individual customization.
6. Marketing is the distribution and selling of manufactured products from the manufacturing center to the consumer.

After all necessary planning and research have been completed, the product is ready to be manufactured.  The manufacturing of the product will follow six definite steps.

1. The construction of a prototype.
2. Preparation of route sheets and a flow chart.
3. Construction of all necessary jigs and fixtures.
4. Development of a quality control system.
5. Conducting a trial or pilot run.
6. Conducting production run.