The Five Manufacturing Operating Models

Not every factory should be planned, scheduled or managed in the same way.

A food processing line running the same products every day is fundamentally different from a fabrication business making different orders each week. Yet they are both "manufacturing".

A factory putting products into bottles could be mixing several containers of bulk product before hooking up to a filling line.

An injection moulding business may make thousands of the same parts, running machines on one part for several days. They might have much smaller runs of a few hours. Now the decisions aren't which machines are running but how and when to decide when mould changes take place. Both "manufacturing" but with different needs on skills, stock management and growth.

An assembly team may make relatively few finished products, but each one requires hundreds or thousands of components and sub-assemblies to come together at the right time.

A wood working manufacturer may use the same processes on most orders but every order is made to a specific size and colour.

They are all manufacturers.

But they are not the same manufacturing system.

Understanding the type of factory you are running is one of the first steps in deciding how production should be planned, scheduled and improved.

At Levantar, I use Five Manufacturing Operating Models to help make that distinction.

You won't find these any where else.

What are the five manufacturing operating models?

The five manufacturing operating models describe how work moves through the manufacturing process:

Single-stage
Sequential Production Line
Parallel & Modular Assembly
Multi-Stage Hybrid
Continuous Flow

But process structure is only half of the picture.

You also need to understand how frequently the orders repeat.

An order or product might be:

One-off (designed for one customer only) → Intermittent → Periodic → Frequent → Continuous

It is the combination of how the product is made and how often the work repeats that helps determine how the factory should and should not operate.

Download the PDF of the Manufacturing_Operating_Models_Levantar_Framework_Summer 2026

Levantar Five Operating models for Manufacturing Firms

Why does the manufacturing operating model matter?

Many manufacturing problems start because the production system is being managed in a way that doesn't match the work going through it.

The business has grown. The product mix has changed.

Batch sizes are changing.

Customer expectations have changed, they want more custom made orders.

New products have been introduced, older ones have to be supported.

But the way work is planned and controlled has remained largely the same, as when the business started.

The result is often a factory that has enough capacity on paper but still struggles with:

late orders;
excessive work-in-progress;
constant expediting;
changing priorities;
long lead times;
unnecessary batching;
shortages at assembly;
poor schedule adherence; and
managers constantly firefighting.

Before trying to improve individual processes, it is worth asking a more fundamental question:

What type of manufacturing system are we actually trying to manage?

The two dimensions: how the product is made and how often it repeats

My Operating Model separates two characteristics that are often treated as though they are the same thing.

How does work move through the factory?

This describes the physical and operational structure of manufacture.

Does one machine largely complete the work? You might have lots of single machines doing different orders at the same time. Orders are completed on one of the single machines.
Does every order follow broadly the same sequence? on processing machines that could be connected via conveyors, belts etc.
Are parts passed forward from one stage to next stage with new parts added to them? parts which may have been manufactured or bought in before being brought together?
Do several different manufacturing routes eventually converge in an assembly process?
Or does material flow continuously through a connected process?

That gives us the five operating models.

Read down the side of the Levantar Five Operating Model Framework to find which is most like your factory.

How often does the work repeat?

The second dimension to consider is frequency of order.

A process might manufacture something:

once, occasionally, periodically, frequently or continuously.

This matters because two factories with very similar physical processes can require very different methods of planning and control if one repeats the same products every day while the other rarely sees the same order twice.

So have a look along the top of the Levantar Five Operating Model Framework and estimate how often your orders repeat.

Find the box where your Process and Order Repeating meet.

You might decide you have a model that appears in 2,3 even 4 boxes.

You might decide you have a set of orders that are occasional and others that are frequent.

You could have a filling process that puts product into a bottle. You run large batches through and then store the bottles in a warehouse as stock. Later on you assemble custom orders for each customer.

Manufacturing Operating Model 1: Single-Stage Manufacturing

In a single-stage manufacturing environment, a single order can largely be completed by one principal process or machine. You might have a bank of machines and resources, they don't pass work between each other, they have their own individual schedule.

A raw material is issued to a machine, it processes it and the finished product is ready.

Examples might include certain cnc machining, cutting, printing or moulding operations.

The scheduling challenge is often not simply total machine hours.

It may be deciding:

which job runs next;
which machine should run it;
how changeovers are organised;
whether tooling or people are shared between machines; and
whether work is being produced because it is needed or simply because capacity is available.

In some single-stage environments, the apparent constraint may be the machines while the real constraint is a shared resource such as the team performing the changeovers, their skills, the access equipment.

Typical management question:
What actually determines how many jobs we can complete each day?

Manufacturing Operating Model 2: Sequential Production Line Manufacturing

In sequential production line manufacturing, work moves through a broadly defined sequence of processes.

For example:

Clean Bottle → Fill → Cap → Code → Inspect → Multipack/Wrap/Box → Palletise

The challenge is not simply making each individual process efficient. They are often connected by conveyors, belts.

Each process affects the next.

If one machine or department runs significantly faster than the following process requires, the result can be queues, stoppages and work-in-progress rather than more finished orders. If a machine runs slower than the rest, the line is starved.

This is where local efficiency can create poor overall factory flow.

Typical management question:
Are we managing the performance of individual machines, or the flow of orders through the whole line?

Manufacturing Operating Model 3: Parallel / Modular Manufacturing

Parallel or modular manufacturing occurs when several components, modules or sub-assemblies can be produced at the same time before being brought together.

This is common in assembly and equipment manufacturing, where the product is similar e.g. white goods, automotive.

The challenge becomes coordination.

Producing nine out of ten required modules early does not necessarily allow the final product to be completed.

The tenth module may determine when assembly can start.

This makes material availability, release dates, module synchronisation and the relationship between sub-assembly and final assembly particularly important.

Typical management question:
Are we producing components efficiently, or completing the right sets of components at the right time?

Manufacturing Operating Model 4: Multi-Stage Hybrid Manufacturing

Many factories do not fit neatly into a single production pattern.

Different parts and components follow different routes before converging at assembly, finishing, testing or dispatch. The time spent at each stage is different there is no "obvious" flow, no high speed production line that we see in model 2, no product being assembled at the same rate that we see in 3.

A fabrication business, for example, might cut, machine, weld and buy components through several different routes before they all need to arrive at assembly. Each of these stages take different times, they have different capacities, run at different speeds, need different skills.

These environments can become difficult to control because individual departments, machines can appear to be performing well while the complete order is still late.

Planning can look complex. It needs to consider the dependencies between different routes, the workload within individual departments, teams and machines. Finally it has to be planning starting one set of orders, whilst another set of orders are in the testing and packing process, 2-3 weeks further ahead.

Typical management question:
What has to come together, and when, for the complete customer order to move?

Manufacturing Operating Model 5: Continuous Flow Manufacturing

Continuous-flow environments move product through a connected production process, often at relatively high frequency or volume.

Chemical, oil and process manufacturing are obvious examples. Industrial plants like this are likely to involve large capital investments, designed to deliver over many years.

Here, relatively small interruptions can affect output across the entire system.

Process balance, downtime, changeovers, yield, quality, material availability and the performance of the constraint can therefore have an immediate effect on throughput.

Improving one piece of equipment does not necessarily increase output if another part of the line determines the overall rate.

Typical management question:
What do we minimise downtime and plan maintenance for this production system?

The second dimension: order frequency changes how the factory should operate

Knowing the process structure and stages still isn't enough.

Consider two fabrication companies with almost identical equipment.

One repeatedly produces a relatively small range of products. It puts some of them into stock, which it picks from for the majority of orders.

The other produces predominantly "bespoke" customer orders. It only makes items to the orders from customers.

Their factories might look similar; similar equipment, similar materials, similar skills, .

Their management systems shouldn't necessarily be.

As repetition increases, there are usually greater opportunities for standard work, predetermined routings, repeatable production sequences, kanban, fixed replenishment rules and other forms of standardisation.

As repetition decreases, planning, coordination, visibility and control of individual orders become increasingly important.

This is why I distinguish between:

One-off → Intermittent → Periodic → Frequent → Continuous

“But we're a bespoke manufacturer”

This is one of the most common descriptions I hear.

And it can hide an important distinction.

The orders you get into your Factory may be bespoke. The processes aren't.

A business may manufacture a different finished product for every customer while repeatedly using the same underlying processes:

design, purchasing, cutting, machining, fabrication, assembly, finishing, testing and dispatch.

The product may change.

The way work moves through the business often repeats far more than people realise.

That repetition is important because it creates opportunities to standardise and control the production system without trying to standardise the customer's product.

Did You Know? the word "bespoke" is only found in England, most other countries use the phrase "custom-made".

The word "bespoke" came from the tailoring industry where "bespoken cloth" was cloth for a suit that had been put aside for a customer. The material was the difference, the processes used by the tailor were the same.

What Manufacturing Operating Model is my factory?

Start with these two questions.

First: how does an order physically move through the factory to completion?

Is it predominantly single-stage, sequential production, parallel & modular, multi-stage hybrid or continuous flow?

Second: how frequently does the same product, family or production pattern repeat?

Is it one-off, intermittent, periodic, frequent or continuous?

Don't worry if the answer isn't perfectly neat.

Many manufacturers contain more than one operating model.

A business might have a fabrication operation that is convergent, a repetitive sub-assembly area that behaves more like flow production and a final assembly operation working on a relatively low-frequency basis.

You might make large batches of products in one part of your factory, store that. Then later pull from that store and pack off the product on a line.

You might pack boxes or pallets of finished goods only later do you assemble an order by picking from you finished goods stores.

You could manufacture custom made assemblies from a range of standard sub assemblies. New products are made according to the customer requirements. You hold spare parts made up of the standard sub assemblies.

The purpose of the model isn't to give the factory a label.

It is to understand how the work really behaves so that you can choose appropriate ways of planning and controlling it.

Different Manufacturing Operating Models create different management problems

This is why copying another manufacturer's production system can be dangerous.

A scheduling method that works extremely well in a repetitive assembly operation may perform badly in a low-frequency fabrication environment.

Kanban may work extremely well for one family of parts while being completely inappropriate for another.

Maximising machine utilisation may help one production system while creating unnecessary WIP in another.

Behind the Operating Models is a knowledge of

how each of them runs,
where you will need buffers and stocks,
what skills and experiences are valuabel,
which KPIs are useful and which aren't
how to manage the process daily,
how to calculate your true capacity.

The question Operations Directors, Manufacturing Leaders ask shouldn't initially be:

“Which manufacturing improvement technique should we implement?”

It should be:

“What type of manufacturing system are we actually trying to improve?”

Examples of the five operating models in different manufacturing sectors

The sector itself does not determine the operating model.

Two businesses in the same industry can operate very differently.

However, different industries create recognisable combinations of process structure and order frequency.

Food processing

Often continuous or sequential with relatively high repetition, but product changeovers, allergens, cleaning and shelf-life can significantly affect how production needs to be scheduled.

Bottling and filling

Frequently continuous-flow or sequential, with line speed, changeovers, packaging availability and downstream constraints determining actual throughput.

Fabrication

Often sequential or multi-stage hybrid, with considerable variation in routing and order frequency.

Injection moulding

Frequently single-stage at the primary manufacturing process, but scheduling may be constrained by moulds, setters, materials, changeovers, secondary operations or downstream assembly.

Assembly

Can range from highly repetitive sequential assembly through to complex parallel/modular manufacture where many components and sub-assemblies must converge at the right time.

Machinery and equipment manufacturing

Frequently parallel/modular or convergent, with relatively low product frequency and substantial dependencies between design, purchasing, manufacture, sub-assembly and final assembly.

How does this help diagnose manufacturing problems?

The operating model is only the starting point.

When I review a factory, I then look at how demand enters the business and how an order actually travels from enquiry through to dispatch.

That includes:

Enquiry → Planning → Purchasing → Scheduling → Work Order & Kitting → Production & Inspection → Test, Pack & Dispatch

From there, we can make the actual production system visible, identify where work accumulates or waits, find the real constraint and understand why that constraint exists.

That is very different from starting with the assumption that the answer must be Lean, more people, another machine, a new ERP system or automation.

How to diagnose why a factory isn't performing

What are the main types of manufacturing operating model?

Levantar groups manufacturing operations into five broad process structures: single-stage, sequential, parallel/modular, convergent/hybrid and continuous flow. These are considered alongside how frequently the work repeats, from one-off through to continuous production.

Why does manufacturing frequency matter?

Frequency affects how predictable and repeatable production can be. A factory repeatedly producing the same product can normally standardise more of its production control than a business manufacturing predominantly one-off orders, even when they use similar manufacturing processes.

Can one factory have more than one operating model?

Yes. Different product families, departments or stages of manufacture can behave differently. The objective is not necessarily to classify the whole factory as one type, but to understand how its different production flows need to be managed.

Is bespoke manufacturing an operating model?

Not by itself. “Bespoke” or custom-made describes the amount of product or order variation, but doesn't explain how work flows through the factory. A bespoke, custom-made product can still pass through the same standard processes.

Which manufacturing operating model is best?

There isn't a single best operating model. The appropriate manufacturing system for your factory is largely determined by the product, processes, demand pattern and frequency of repetition. The important issue is whether the way the factory is managed matches the work it actually has to produce. Use the wrong Operating Model and you'll be fighting the system everyday.

Does every manufacturing operating model need a different production schedule?

The underlying requirement, deciding what should be produced, where, when and in what sequence remains, but the appropriate scheduling method can differ significantly according to process structure, repetition, buffers, stock, constraints and dependencies. Optimising the schedule is different for each model.

Understand the Factory You're Actually Running

Manufacturing problems are often attacked through individual symptoms:

late deliveries, low efficiency, high WIP, overtime, shortages or poor productivity.

Before deciding what to improve, understand the production system creating those results.

Understand the factory you're actually running. Then decide what to fix.

I use the Five Manufacturing Operating Models when I conduct the Factory Performance Diagnostic Reviews. Reviews which lead to factory action plans for improvement.