Industry
Map Your Gaps
Card 1 of 9
Swipe right if you know it, left if you don't
✔ Know
✖ Don't know
Industrial systems
A factory operates as a system with inputs, processes and outputs.
Same systems thinking as agriculture — but applied to manufacturing and processing.
Industrial systems — Key Knowledge
- Inputs raw materials, energy, labour, capital, components, land
- Processes manufacturing, processing, assembly, packaging, quality control
- Outputs finished products, waste, by-products, profit or loss
Industry types
Industries are classified by what they do.
Different industry types have different location needs — heavy manufacturing needs raw materials; high-tech needs skilled workers.
Industry types — Key Knowledge
- Manufacturing making products from raw materials — steel, textiles, chemicals
- Processing converting raw materials into a more useful form — oil refining, food processing, timber milling
- Assembly putting together components made elsewhere — car assembly, electronics
- High technology research-intensive, advanced products — IT, pharmaceuticals, aerospace
Traditional location factors
Factors that historically determined where industries were located.
In the 19th century, industries clustered near coalfields and ports — e.g. steel in Sheffield, textiles in Manchester.
Traditional location factors — Key Knowledge
- Raw materials heavy industries located near raw materials to reduce transport costs
- Energy/fuel near coalfields or HEP sources
- Labour near large populations for workforce
- Transport near ports, railways, canals for moving goods
- Market near customers to reduce delivery costs
- Water supply for cooling, cleaning, processing
Modern location factors
Today's industries — especially high-tech — have different location needs.
Modern industries are more "footloose" — they can choose locations based on workforce quality and quality of life rather than raw materials.
Modern location factors — Key Knowledge
- Skilled workforce universities, research parks
- Communication links broadband, digital infrastructure
- Transport motorway access, airports
- Pleasant environment to attract workers — greenfield sites, science parks
- Government incentives grants, tax breaks, enterprise zones
- Footloose industries not tied to raw materials — can locate almost anywhere
Industrial location — weight factors
Whether an industry locates near raw materials or near the market depends on the product.
This explains why sawmills are in forests but bakeries are in towns.
Industrial location — weight factors — Key Knowledge
- Bulk-reducing industries raw materials are heavier than the product — locate near raw materials to reduce transport costs; e.g. steel, timber milling
- Bulk-increasing industries product is heavier or more fragile than raw materials — locate near the market; e.g. bread baking, furniture assembly
Industrial zones
Factories and industries tend to cluster together in designated zones.
Industries cluster together for shared infrastructure, labour pools and supply chain proximity.
Industrial zones — Key Knowledge
- Industrial estates purpose-built areas on city outskirts — cheap land, good road access, space for expansion, modern facilities
- Science/technology parks near universities — research-based firms, IT, biotech, clean environments
- Enterprise zones government-designated areas with tax breaks and grants to attract investment — often in areas of high unemployment
Location on city outskirts
Modern industry tends to locate at the edge of cities rather than in the centre.
Inner-city industry has largely declined — replaced by service industries or redeveloped for housing.
Location on city outskirts — Key Knowledge
- Cheaper land large sites affordable
- Road access near motorway junctions for lorries
- Less congestion easier for deliveries and commuters
- Room to expand space for growth
- Fewer complaints noise and pollution away from residential centres
- Purpose-built modern facilities rather than converted old buildings
Industrial change in MEDCs
Developed countries have seen a shift away from traditional manufacturing.
Cities like Sheffield and Detroit experienced massive industrial decline — now reinventing themselves through services and technology.
Industrial change in MEDCs — Key Knowledge
- Deindustrialisation decline of manufacturing — factory closures, job losses
- Causes competition from countries with cheaper labour, automation replacing workers, raw materials running out, environmental regulations
- Growth of tertiary and quaternary sectors services, IT, research now dominate employment
- Consequences unemployment in former industrial areas, social deprivation, need for retraining and regeneration
Case study required
The spec requires a named industrial example.
The case study should explain why the industry is located where it is, linking to specific location factors.
Case study required — Key Knowledge
- An industrial zone or factory location factors, inputs, processes, outputs, reasons for location, impacts on the local area