assembly line

noun

1. an arrangement of machines, tools, and workers in which a product is assembled by having each perform a specific, successive operation on an incomplete unit as it passes by in a series of stages organized in a direct line.

assembly line

noun

1. a sequence of machines, tools, operations, workers, etc, in a factory, arranged so that at each stage a further process is carried out

assembly line

1. A line of factory workers and equipment along which a product being assembled passes consecutively from operation to operation until completed.

Assembly lines are found in many industries but are particularly associated with automobile manufacturing.

Word History and Origins

Origin of assembly line¹

An Americanism dating back to 1910–15

Example Sentences

"This is similar to finding the missing links in an assembly line," says Dr. Dang, UBC Okanagan Principal's Research Chair in Natural Products Biotechnology.

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More famously, Henry Ford established the assembly line, revolutionizing worker productivity and enabling higher wages through the Five Dollar Day.

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It opened in 1908, the year the first Model T rolled off Henry Ford’s assembly line.

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After eight years with the force, she earned just $900 a month, little more than a worker on an assembly line.

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At another electronics manufacturer, SVI, robots glided up and down the assembly line bringing hundreds of tiny components to assemble circuit boards in machines that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

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Related Words

• production line