Before we jump into how important tooling and fixtures are in manufacturing, let’s take a step back for a second. It is important to mention that there are three different types of manufacturing: Prototype, Production, and Mass Product. The largest distinction between the three types of manufacturing, besides the quantities produced, is how the product is fabricated. Prototypes are more hands on fabrication due to the low quantities. Whereas, when a product reaches the production and mass production stages, fabrication is mostly automated. A single product may go through all three of the different manufacturing types, come out with the same result, but the method of how it was manufactured is completely different. For more information on the individual production types and how they differ, click here.  Continue reading →