economies of scale

economies of scale pl (normally plural, singular economy of scale)

1. (economics) The characteristics of a production process in which an increase in the scale of the firm causes a decrease in the long run average cost of each unit.

   Antonym: diseconomies of scale

   • 1963, George Burnet Rogers, Costs and Economies of Scale in Turkey Processing Plants, Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, page i:

     When plant size increased from 400 heavy young hens per hour to about 1,500 per hour average costs per pound declined from 6.6 to 5.4 cents per pound. While these costs suggested the existence of economies of scale in processing, they did not provide a standardized measure of the exact nature and extent of potential cost savings.

• returns to scale

• economies of scale on Wikipedia.Wikipedia