It might easily be seen therefore that one characteristic of the 'English Style' of production was that there was no interchangeability of parts.  One part of a mechanism could not be taken out and fitted into another product of the same design.  Undoubtedly the products would be of good quality but they would take a long while to make - and manufacturers don't really become enormously rich by labouring over making single products.

The difference between a 'Prototype' and a 'One-Off' might be guessed from breaking down the component parts of the words used. No problem with what 'one-off' means - but a prototype suggests that this is part of a series - and that is what it is.  James Dyson produced over 5000 prototypes of his Cyclone cleaner before going into production.  This scale of testing and developing might be on the high side for your GCSE projects but the principle of improving something before it goes into production is the same.   Even before the 'Industrial revolution' there began the style of manufacturing items that had an element of  standardisation about them…. And once items became essentially the same between one being produced and the next being made - they could be made on what have become known as 'assembly lines' - or even by machine.

The concept of the 'Production Line' is generally credited to Henry Ford and his manufacture of cars but it is known that companies in England were making
vehicles by rolling the chassis into a work area and having the bodywork built around that before it moved on to the next stage on its way to completion. In 1913 Ford used the rolling production line in their factory in Detroit, Michigan.

Mass production is now wide-spread with Ford employing nearly 400,000 employees and making cars with an annual value of over $140 billion.  But where does mass production stop being called hat and become batch production?  Most companies cannot sustain production of one product in huge numbers.  There usually just isn't the market there in the modern manufacturing world.  Styles and fashions change quite quickly and often it makes sense to produce batches.

Not so long ago track spikes and football boots were made ready for the season in which they would be used - they would be made in batches.  Now they can be sold all year round but the fashion aspect dictates that they are made in batches rather than in huge quantities. Our coursework tasks  should be planned to be manufactured in batches