<P> Before the Industrial Revolution, most manufactured products were made individually by hand . A single craftsman or team of craftsmen would create each part of a product . They would use their skills and tools such as files and knives to create the individual parts . They would then assemble them into the final product, making cut - and - try changes in the parts until they fit and could work together (craft production). </P> <P> Division of labor was practiced in China where state run monopolies mass - produced metal agricultural implements, china, armor, and weapons centuries before it appeared in Europe on the eve of the Industrial Revolution . Adam Smith discussed the division of labour in the manufacture of pins at length in his book The Wealth of Nations (published in 1776). </P> <P> The Venetian Arsenal, dating to about 1104, operated similar to a production line . Ships moved down a canal and were fitted by the various shops they passed . At the peak of its efficiency in the early 16th century, the Venetian Arsenal employed some 16,000 people who could apparently produce nearly one ship each day, and could fit out, arm, and provision a newly built galley with standardized parts on an assembly - line basis . Although the Venice Arsenal lasted until the early Industrial Revolution, production line methods did not become common even then . </P> <P> The Industrial Revolution led to a proliferation of manufacturing and invention . Many industries, notably textiles, firearms, clocks and watches, horse - drawn vehicles, railway locomotives, sewing machines, and bicycles, saw expeditious improvement in materials handling, machining, and assembly during the 19th century, although modern concepts such as industrial engineering and logistics had not yet been named . </P>

Which one of the following is generally considered a characteristic of a line process