Main articles: Agile manufacturing
'Downstream' in manufacturing refers to processes that occur later on in a production sequence or production line.
Viewing a company "from order to cash" might have high-level processes such as
Marketing,
Sales,
Order Entry,
Manufacturing,
Packaging,
Shipping,
Invoicing. Each of these could be deconstructed into many sub-processes and supporting processes.
The
Manufacturing process consists of such sub-processes as
Design,
Tooling,
Inventory Management,
Receiving, Assembly, and others. The products being manufactured are created in a sequence of processes. Any process occurring after another is considered to be downstream.
See also
★
Lean manufacturing