Why does making many identical furniture parts lower manufacturing costs?

In the furniture industry, manufacturing costs are significantly reduced when producing identical parts because it minimizes the time and labor required for machine setup. When a large quantity of a specific part is produced, the manufacturer only needs to perform a single setting of the machine and utilize one set of cutters for the entire production run.1

This efficiency is a practical application of economies of scale, where increasing output leads to a reduction in the average cost per unit. By avoiding the need to repeatedly adjust machinery for individual pieces, manufacturers can streamline the production process, ensuring that parts are cut exactly alike through the use of standardized forms and guides. This approach contrasts with traditional hand-crafting, which is inherently more time-consuming and costly due to the need for individual fitting and manual adjustments for every item.213