A manufacturing process where products move through a series of workstations, with workers performing specific, repetitive tasks to build items efficiently. This system revolutionized industrial production by dramatically increasing speed and reducing costs.
The term combines 'assembly' (from Latin 'assimilare,' to bring together) with 'line' (referring to the linear arrangement of workstations). The concept was perfected by Henry Ford in the early 1900s, though similar ideas existed in earlier industries like meatpacking.
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