Industries
The 19th (1800’s) century brought change:
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Production of items became mechanized.
Factories produced a growing number of goods.
Quantities of goods produced increased.
People left the countryside to move closer to the factories
in towns and cities (urbanization).
During the 20th (1900’s) century…
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Farming and hand manufacture (goods made by
hand) decreased drastically and was replaced by
industry (factories and mass production!).
An activity is ”industrial” when…
1.
2.
3.
Transforms a natural resource into mass-produced
good.
Costs money to manufacture these items.
Requires skilled workers.
What do industries produce?
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Almost everything around us is manufactured
industrially, from airplanes to clothes, including
medicines and computers.
Four Types of Industries
1. Heavy industry:
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It involves extracting metals or
valuable minerals (ex: iron,
aluminium, copper, tin and lead)
from ore.
(Ore a naturally occurring solid material – rock- from
which a metal or valuable mineral can be profitably
extracted.)
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It also includes chemical
plants and oil refineries.
2. Processing industry:
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Transforms materials (metal, food, wood, etc.) into
goods (motors, plastic, paper to be used by another
industry).
3. Hi-tech industry:
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These include all products manufactured in
pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, computers and
electronics, aerospace, and telecommunications.
4. Consumer goods industry:
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Manufactures products such as processed foods,
clothing, house-hold appliances, cars, furniture and
toys (for individual consumption).
What is a industrial park?
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It is an area of land developed as a site for factories
and other industrial businesses.
Characteristics of industrial parks:
1. Cluster (group) of industries in this area.
2. Road (18-wheelers) and a rail network (trains) for
transporting raw materials and finished products to and
from the factories/industrial businesses.
3. A port & an airport are nearby for exporting &
importing products.
(A port is a location on a coast or shore containing one or more harbors where ships can dock and transfer
people or cargo to or from land.)
4. Hydrolines that reach the factories to provide energy.
5. Enough people to operate the factory.
Are industries in the North or the South?
Some of the wealthy countries that are usually present at
G7 or G20 meetings:
 United States
 Japan
 Germany
 United Kingdom
 France
 Canada
 Italy
Wealth distribution
The 10 companies with the
highest sales in 2013
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/global500/2013/full_list/
Which company ranked first place in the
highest sales 2013? – Fortune 500 (source)
Industrialization around the world
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The European Union, North America and Japan are
highly industrialised.
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Other countries, like China, India, South Korea,
Singapore and Taiwan are considered “emerging
industrial powers”.
American Toys – made in China:
Case Study
 Barbie dolls are made by Mattel.
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Mattel is a multinational company based in
the United States (head office).
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The dolls, however, are made in China (factories)!
Why?
1. Reduce production costs
2. Increase profit
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These multinationals relocate to other countries
where the cost of production is lower than in
developed countries like Canada or U.S.A.
Mattel Toy factory in the 1950’s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fv_lPfbKxEQ
Making Toys in 2014
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYqSGXeT59k
Why move United Stated-based
companies to China?
1.
Chinese workers are paid less.
2. Chinese government offers better rates on buying and
transporting raw materials and energy.
3. American companies pay less taxes and do not pay any
duty fees.
Making dolls is an international effort!
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China offers manufacturing site, labour, and electricity.
Japan provides nylon (doll's hair).
Saudi Arabia offers oil.
Taiwan transforms oil to ethylene to make plastic.
U.S.A. and Japan manufacture most of the machinery
and tools used to produce goods.
Is “offshoring” good for everyone?
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Relocating production to another country is called
“offshoring/outsourcing”.
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Offshoring is closing down a manufacturing plant in
America and reopening it in a foreign country.
IN FAVOR
 Companies like Mattel (investors, CEO, etc.) benefit
from offshoring because it increases their profits.
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Chinese government is in favor of it because it has
created millions of jobs.
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American employees are against offshoring because it
means job losses in the United States.
The Mattel factory in Kentucky closed down in 2002.
Humanitarian organizations have noted that
“offshoring” to developing countries can sometimes
lead to bad working conditions.
This is outsourcing…
Imagine
you have a company that sells mobile phones, and you have a help
center. People can call if they have a problem, and they will get answers to how to
use their phone.
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Where
you live, the minimum wage is $12 an hour. That means the people who
answer the phones and give help have to be paid at least $12 an hour to answer
the phones and give help to people who call.
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What
if, instead of having those people in the same city as the people who call
for help, you have them in a city in India? When people who call for help dial the
HELP number, their call goes to India. The person who answers the call speaks
good English, knows all the answers, and the customer is satisfied. As far as the
customer is concerned, it could have been a local number.

The
thing is, you are only paying the person in India $4 an hour. Everyone is
happy, but you are saving $8 an hour. Your business is running smoothly, but it is
being handled somewhere else, somewhere cheaper.
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http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110319200655AA7MlHa
The Great Lakes automotive industry:
What of its future?
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American car companies are concentrated in the Great
Lakes region.
Detroit is home to General motors, Ford and Chrysler.
Canada's automotive industry
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Most factories are in Ontario between Windsor and
Oshawa.
En route to… relocation
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Japan is a fierce competitor in the automotive industry.
Since the 1960s, the rise of Japanese car companies
(Toyota, Nissan and Honda) has affected the sales of
American made cars.
Japanese cars were more compact (smaller) and
consumed less gas.
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GM, Ford and Chrysler made the decision to offshore
(relocate its companies to Mexico in order to remain
competitive with Japan by lower their production costs).
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Relocating to Mexico meant closing many factories in
the United States and Canada.
General Motors, Ste-Thérèse (the end)
A monthly union meeting of former GM employees, TCA local
1163, in their spaces in the town of Boisbriand — despite the
plant’s closing, bringing thirty years’ operation and Quebec’s
automotive industry to an end. The parking lot storing the last
Impalas, the only view one has of the production as access to
the manufacturing premises was denied. We’re on the outside,
and that’s where we’ll stay, the factory having been torn down.
2004 Working, Mercer Union, Toronto.
The case of Detroit
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It was once the automotive capital of the United States.
Relocating factories to Mexico really affected the Great
Lakes region.
The region still manufactures cars however, it has
reorganized production by installing technology that
reduces the number of employees (labor) and making
cars that sell really well in America.
BBC - Das Auto: The Germans,
Their Cars and Us (2013)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPhlZYiEkQY
Fault Lines: Collapsing Auto
Industry in Detroit
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TSITIsK4eQ