MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY: CHARACTERISTICS, ACTIVITIES AND PRODUCTS - ECONOMY - 2025

The manufacturing industry refers to those industries that are involved in the manufacture and processing of articles, dedicating themselves to the transformation of components, materials or substances for the creation or addition of value of new products.

The transformation process can be physical, chemical or mechanical. Manufacturers often have plants or factories that produce goods for public consumption. Machines and equipment are generally used in the manufacturing process.

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Although, in some cases, the products can be made by hand. An example of this would be baked goods, handmade jewelry, crafts, and art. The manufacturing industry is responsible for the goods in an economy, for the physical products that are bought and used every day.

It constitutes a substantial portion of the industrial sector in developed countries. End products can serve as a finished product to sell to customers, or as intermediate products used in the production process.

However, it is clear to economists that a healthy manufacturing industry is one of the hallmarks of a healthy and prosperous economy, as manufacturing intermingles with almost every area of ​​the economy.

Evolution

The manufacturing industry emerged with the occurrence of technological and socioeconomic transformations in Western countries in the 18th-19th centuries.

This was widely known as the industrial revolution. It began in Britain by replacing labor-intensive textile production with mechanization and the use of fuels.

Before the Industrial Revolution, most products were made by hand. Since the Industrial Revolution, manufacturing has become increasingly important, with many products being mass-manufactured.

The manufacturing industry is broadly classified into engineering, construction, electronics, chemical, energy, textile, food, metallurgical, plastics, transportation, and telecommunications industries.

Today, each year technology continues to make manufacturing more efficient, faster and more profitable. However, automation also eliminates many manufacturing jobs, putting skilled employees out of work.

Today, technology is moving the economies of developed countries towards offering services rather than producing goods.

characteristics

Manufacturing is the main wealth-producing sector of an economy. This industry uses various widely known technologies and methods, such as the management of manufacturing processes.

Manufacturing industries are important to an economy as they employ a large part of the workforce and produce materials required by strategically important sectors such as national infrastructure and defense.

Mass production allows goods to be produced much faster and with more precision. This reduces prices and makes many consumer goods cheaper, with the cost being within the reach of the general public.

Many other industries contribute directly and indirectly to manufacturing. Some examples are construction, engineering, printing, and transportation, which are necessary to help keep production afloat.

Manufacturing industries also stimulate investment and encourage the construction of infrastructure. There are few areas of the economy that manufacturing industries do not touch.

However, not all manufacturing industries are beneficial for a country, since some of them generate negative externalities with enormous social costs. The cost of allowing such industries to prosper may even exceed the benefits generated by them.

Global manufacturing industry

Due to emerging technologies around the world, the global manufacturing industry has braced itself and brought several new technologies within its purview.

Economists view the global manufacturing industry as a wealth-generating sector. The generation of employment, the introduction of the latest techniques, etc., have placed the global manufacturing industry in a favorable position.

With the implementation of the green environment concept, the global manufacturing industry has taken various measures to ensure that manufacturing industries around the world comply with green standards.

The global manufacturing industry also plays an important role in defending a country. By manufacturing aircraft that play a vital role in the defense of the country, the aerospace manufacturing industry acts as a shield.

Other industries in the manufacturing sector make products that are indispensable in our daily lives. With respect to GDP or gross domestic product, the global manufacturing industry contributes both to the global economy and to world GDP.

Manufacturing activities

Manufacturing is the production of goods for use or sale using labor and machines, tools, chemical or biological processing, or a formulation.

The word can represent a hierarchy of human activities, from goldsmithing to cutting-edge technology, but it is most commonly used in industrial production, where raw materials are transformed into finished products on a large scale.

The manufacturing process creates value, which means that companies can charge a premium for what they create. For example, rubber is not particularly valuable on its own, but when it is made into a car tire, it has substantially more value.

In this case, the manufacturing process that allows the rubber to be transformed into a necessary auto part adds value.

Assembly line

When the assembly line was introduced into manufacturing, production soared even more. Then, in the early 1900s, Henry Ford introduced a conveyor belt that physically moved products through the factory, from one station to another.

Each station also had a worker responsible for completing a specific stage in the production process. This simple conveyor tripled production and changed manufacturing forever.

Today's advancement in computer technology enables manufacturers to do more in less time. Now, thousands of items can be manufactured in minutes. Computer technology can be used to assemble, check, and track production.

Fabrication process

Manufacturing engineering or the manufacturing process are the steps through which raw materials are transformed into a final product.

The manufacturing process begins with the design of the product and the specification of the materials from which the product will be made. These materials are modified through the manufacturing processes to become the required part.

Modern manufacturing includes all the manufacturing activities required in the production and integration of the components of a product:

Foundry

- Centrifugal casting (industrial).

- Continuous casting.

- Full mold casting.

Image and coating

- Laser engraving.

- Inkjet printing.

- Plating.

Molding in metallurgy

- Compaction plus sintering.

- Hot isostatic pressing.

- Metal injection molding.

- Spraying.

Plastic molding

- Injection.

- Extrusion.

- Blow molding.

- Thermoforming.

Other manufacturing activities

- Grinding mill.

- Blast furnace.

- Coating.

- Turning.

- Photochemical machining.

- Industrial finish.

- Electroplating.

- Electrochemical machining.

- Chemical manufacturing.

- Oil refining.

- Assembly line.

- Packaging and labeling.

products

Clothing and textiles

Fabrics for making clothes, outerwear, sheets, curtains, towels and upholstery fabrics.

Textile manufacturing products are: fibers, braids, threads and wide fabrics, narrow fabrics, knitted fabrics.

Petroleum, chemicals and plastics

The use of crude oil makes certain plastics, as well as gasoline and other chemicals.

Other products that belong to this sector are: soaps, resins, paints, fertilizers, cleaning compound pesticides, rubber and pharmaceutical products.

Electronic products, computers and transportation

Most of the products in this sector of the manufacturing industry use electrical power, and all require a power source.

Here are all the electrical appliances, communications equipment, microprocessors, semiconductors, computers, and all audiovisual equipment.

The transport sector contains among its products: automobiles, ships, trains and airplanes.

Foods

Some products of food manufacturing are: baked goods, vegetable and animal oils, cereals, fruit preserves, prepared animal feed, and poultry.

Metal products

Some products are: metal cans, tin, silverware, hardware, hand tools, hardware, springs, screws, nuts and bolts. Additionally, insulated nails, cables and wires.

Wood, leather and paper products

Covers products such as wood, plywood, veneer, flooring, and more. Also, prefab houses are considered wood products.

In the leather industries, you will find all the tanning and curing of the same. Paper products are: paper and cardboard, wood pulp and other cellulose fibers, converted paper products, such as paper bags and cardboard boxes.

Furniture products

Includes furniture and all related products such as mattresses, blinds, cabinets and lighting.

Types

Garment industry

It is divided into two main types. The first is cut and sew, which means that a garment is created by buying fabric, cutting it, and then sewing it.

The second type of garment manufacturing involves weaving the fabric and then cutting and sewing it. This sector is extremely popular and encompasses many different types of workers, including tailors and weavers.

Textile industry

It prepares and converts the fibers into usable fabrics that will eventually become consumer goods.

Chemical industry and related

It covers several different industries. This manufacturing process is the transformation of organic or inorganic materials into a unique product.

Petroleum refining

It is concerned with transforming crude oil into usable consumer products. Oil requires refining before consumers can use it. The refining process separates the different components of the oil to make different products.

Industry

It manufactures products of plastic resins and of natural, synthetic or regenerated rubber. The two are grouped together because they are used as substitutes for each other.

However, each is its own subsector, which means that plants can generally only manufacture one of the two; not both.

Many products made from these materials are classified in other industries, such as boats, toys, buttons, etc. This includes the manufacture of tires.

Electronic equipment industry

This sector continues to grow rapidly. The insatiable demand for electronic products makes it a highly competitive industry. Due to the use of integrated circuits and miniaturized technology, this is a specialized manufacturing sector.

Transportation equipment industry

It produces almost everything that has to do with the transport of goods and people. This is a massive guy from the manufacturing industry.

Transportation equipment, in general, qualifies as machinery. These manufacturing processes are extremely complex and require the manufacture of many different components in the same factories.

Food and related industries

It transforms agricultural or livestock products into products for consumption. These are typically sold to wholesalers or retailers who then sell those products to consumers.

As the simplest of all manufacturing industries, it contains all forms of food production, including jobs such as canning and purification.

Primary metal industry

Along with oil refining and chemicals, metals belong to heavy industry, while the remaining sectors are generally regarded as light industry or consumer-oriented industry.

It is dedicated to the smelting and refining of ferrous and non-ferrous metals; rolling, drawing and alloying of metals; manufacture of molded parts.

Fabricated Metal Industry

In this sector, metals are transformed into other end products. Metal production includes all forms of iron, aluminum and steel fabrication, as well as forging, engraving, plating, and stamping.

Wood industry

The wood must be cut, shaped and finished. Some manufacturers use logs to make their wood products, while others buy the wood pre-cut and then process it from there, such as sawing and laminate.

Leather industry

It deals with the manufacture of leather and leather substitutes, such as rubber or plastics.

The reason why leather substitutes are included in this manufacturing sector is that they are often manufactured in the same factories with the same machinery as leather products.

Paper industry

The paper production process is characterized by cleaning the raw wood pulp in various types of paper products.

Furniture Industry

Products manufactured in this sector must be functional and have a well thought out design.

There are countless processes that can go into making furniture. An example of this is cutting, shaping, finishing and joining the wood to make a table.

Printing, Publishing and Allied Industries

It is engaged in the printing and publishing of newspapers, books and periodicals, regardless of whether they do their own printing.

Tobacco industry

Tobacco products are those in cigarette or cigar form, as well as loose tobacco products. It also includes the manufacture of non-tobacco cigarettes.

Real examples

The manufacturing sector is closely related to engineering and industrial design. Some examples of the main manufacturers within the manufacturing industry in the world are:

North America

- General Motors Corporation

- General Electric

- Procter & Gamble

- General Dynamics

- Boeing

- Pfizer

- Precision Castparts.

Europe

- Volkswagen Group

- Siemens

- FCA

- Michelin

Asia

- Toyota

- Yamaha

- Panasonic

- LG

- Samsung

- Tata Motors

References

1. NASA (1996). Manufacturing Industry. Taken from: hq.nasa.gov.
2. Economy Watch (2010). Manufacturing Industry. Taken from: economywatch.com.
3. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (2018). Manufacturing. Taken from: en.wikipedia.org.
4. Chelsea Levinson (2018). Definition of the Manufacturing Industry. Taken from: bizfluent.com.
5. Walter Johnson (2018). Types of Manufacturing Industries. Bizfluent, Taken from: bizfluent.com.
6. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (2018). List of manufacturing processes. Taken from: en.wikipedia.org.
7. Management Mania (2018). Secondary Sector (Manufacturing and Industry). Taken from: managementmania.com.