Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
assembly line \assembly line\ n. A line of machinery, tools, and workers on which objects to be manufactured are moved from one post to the next, where different workers perform different steps in the manufacturing process; called also production line. The objects to be manufactured usually move on a form of conveyor belt, which does not necessarily move only in a straight line, but may continue around the factory area for some distance.
Wiktionary
n. A set of sequential operations established in a factory whereby materials are put through a refine process or components are assembled to make a finished article.
WordNet
n. mechanical system in a factory whereby an article is conveyed through sites at which successive operations are performed on it [syn: assembly line, line]
Wikipedia
A production line is a set of sequential operations established in a factory whereby materials are put through a refining process to produce an end-product that is suitable for onward consumption; or components are assembled to make a finished article.
Typically, raw materials such as metal ores or agricultural products such as foodstuffs or textile source plants ( cotton, flax) require a sequence of treatments to render them useful. For metal, the processes include crushing, smelting and further refining. For plants, the useful material has to be separated from husks or contaminants and then treated for onward sale.
The Production Line was a nickname for one of the most famous scoring lines in the history of the National Hockey League (NHL). The line consisted of Gordie Howe (right wing), Sid Abel (centre) and Ted Lindsay (left wing) of the Detroit Red Wings, all members of the Hockey Hall of Fame.
In 1947, Tommy Ivan replaced Jack Adams as head coach of the Wings and instantly put the two best players on the squad (Howe and Lindsay) on either side of the future Hall of Famer Abel. Abel was in the twilight of his career but Ivan knew that he could still be a threat with two lightning fast wingers that could cover for his slowness and bring out the best in him. Howe and Lindsay were the best of friends with both having immense respect for Sid. The trio would often stay late after practice and fool around with the puck. The fooling around paid off, as the trio would perfect one of hockey's greatest plays—the set play. To take advantage of the speed of the wingers and to minimize the problems of having a slow center, the wingers would shoot the puck into the opponents' end after crossing center ice. They would angle their shoot-in so that the puck would bounce off the boards and slide to the front of the goal where the other winger could get to it. That winger would either make a quick pass to Abel in the slot or take a shot himself. It was a brilliant play for the era because goalies of the period rarely left the goal crease, and would not think to cut off the shoot-in or block the pass in front. The trio also found numerous other ways to hit the back of net off their ability to read each other and come together as a unit.
In the 1947–48 season, the trio was tops on the team in scoring and in 1950, when Lindsay won the scoring crown, the three finished 1–2–3 in NHL scoring, a feat never again rivaled. The year after, Howe won his first of four consecutive Art Ross Trophies. Howe would also finish in the top five in scoring for the next 20 seasons. When Howe retired from the NHL in 1971, he held virtually every scoring record in the NHL.
Both fans and media scrambled to come up with a catchy nickname for the threesome and soon enough, somebody coined a term that described the importance of the line to the team as well as a reference to Detroit, the car-making capital of the United States. The Production Line was born.
Usage examples of "production line".
Just days before, the last groaning and shuddering stations on the production line had seized up.
I had a production line of our own built to insure this, and damn the bureaucrats in New Kashubia.
The first turntable has come off the production line, the first records have been pressed, there are no immediate disasters, but nothing much is being sold because, for the time being, there's nothing much to sell.
There will have to be a continuous production line because without refrigeration, penicillin loses its potency fairly rapidly over a span of about two weeks.
Phillip walked up and down the production line checking on his workers.
You see one airplane, a windsock, a barn serving as a hangar and aircraft production line, and maybe the world's sorriest set of shacks passing themselves off as 'quarters' on a so-called 'air force base.
They're different kinds of UV glass, because UV can affect chips on the production line.
Viewers would be able to see the real conditions on Technos III when the Wolfe Family graciously allowed cameras to observe the first completed stardrives coming off the production line, at a special ceremony in two days' time.
Veritas was leaking into society somehow, even though every single capsule could be accounted for, from the beginning of the production line up on OrbLab 2 until it was sealed here in the Guild armory.