Industry: Part II
Industrialization and Chevrolet
Major Industrial Regions of the
World before 1950
Industrialization Through WWI
• The four primary industrial regions:
1) Western & Central Europe
2) Eastern North America
3) Russia & Ukraine
4) Eastern Asia
Western and
Central Europe
Late 18th Century:
Britain
France
Belgium
Netherlands
Germany: 3 districts?
Early 20th Century:
Italy: What area?
Spain: What area?
Sweden
Finland
Major Manufacturing Regions of North America
-Benefitted from overseas resources
-Large coal and gas reserves to provide energy to manufacturing plants
-US capitalized on industry after Western Europe destruction during WWI and WWII
Major Manufacturing Regions of Russia
-Many resources throughout the vast expanse of land
-Volga River provided an energy resource and transportation through canals
Major
Manufacturing
Regions of East
Asia
-Japan imported raw
materials from it’s colonial
empire into Korea, Taiwan,
and China
-3 major belts in Japan?
Think of an industrial area where you live,
either an industrial park or a major
conglomeration of industries. Consider the
models of industrial location described in
this section of the chapter and determine
whether any of the models apply to this
place.
Key Question:
How has Industrial
Production Changed?
Post-Fordist
Fordist – dominant mode of mass production
during the twentieth century, production of
consumer goods at a single site.
Post-Fordist – current mode of production with a
more flexible set of production practices in which
goods are not mass produced. Production is
accelerated and dispersed around the globe by
multinational companies that shift production,
outsourcing it around the world.
Planned Obsolescence
• What is planned obsolescence?
• Who is guilty?
Domestic Car Production in a
Post-Fordist World
•
Due to the increasing demand for better, longer-lasting, more eye-catching
vehicles, American consumers have fled domestic producers and found their home
with foreign-produced cars that are longer-lasting, sleeker and more fun to drive.
Popular foreign cars include…Toyota Camry, Toyota Corolla, Honda Accord, Honda
Civic, Hyundai Sonata, Honda CRV and Nissan Altima. With Americans choosing
foreign automobiles , domestic producers were forced to make better, longerlasting, more appealing vehicles that offer better gas mileage. Have they
succeeded?
• What Americans are driving…
1) Ford F-150
2) Chevrolet Silverado
3) Toyota Camry
4) Honda Accord
5) Ram Truck
Chevy’s Response
• After sales of GM vehicles plummeted and
when the U.S Government bailed out the
company, GM began developing more fuel
efficient cars and trucks in order compete with
foreign automakers such as Toyota and Honda.
• Chevy’s landmark response…
Chevrolet Assembly Plants, 1955
Fig. 11-13a: In 1955, GM assembled identical Chevrolets at ten final assembly
plants located near major population centers.
Chevrolet Assembly Plants, 2003
Fig. 11-13b: In 2003, GM was producing a wider variety of vehicles, and production of
various models was spread through the middle of the country.
Chevrolet Plant Closures
Plant closures for Chevy in the past five years…
1) Pontiac, Michigan
2) Wilmington, Delaware
3) Grand Rapids, Michigan
4) Indianapolis, Indiana
5) Mansfield, Ohio
If you were the CEO for GM’s Chevrolet division, what
recommendations would you make to increase sales?
Time-Space
Compression
Through improvements
in transportation and
communications
technologies, many
places in the world
are more connected
than ever before.
Time-Space Compression
• Just-in-time delivery
rather than keeping a large inventory of
components or products, companies keep just
what they need for short-term production and
new parts are shipped quickly when needed.
• Global division of labor
corporations can draw from labor around the
globe for different components of production.
Production of Televisions
• Three key elements in television production:
– Research and design
– Manufacturing components
– Assembly
• Production of televisions has shifted across
the world over time.
New Influences on the
Geography of Manufacturing
• Transportation on industrial location
– Development of infrastructure: containers, refrigeration
– Intermodal connections
• Regional and global trade agreements
– NAFTA, EU
– WTO: ~150 countries, promotes free trade to eliminate
quotas
• Proximity to Energy sources in industrial location less
important
– Pipelines and tankers deliver fuel to far away places
– 2.5 million miles of pipelines in NA
Key Question:
Where are the Major
Industrial Belts in the
World Today and Why?
Deindustrialization –
a process by which companies move industrial jobs to other
regions with cheaper labor, leaving the newly deindustrialized
region to switch to a service economy and work through a
period of high unemployment.
The former Gautier rolling mills
of Bethlehem Steel Corp. in
Johnstown, PA
Abandoned street in Liverpool,
England, where the population
has decreased by one-third since
deindustrialization
Newly Industrialized
• East Asia
• South East Asia
Also known as the Pacific Rim.
Newly Industrialized
China – major industrial growth after 1950
1. Industrialization in the 1960s was state-planned:
-Northeast district
-Shanghai and Chang district
2. Today, industrialization is spurred by companies that move
production (not the whole company) to
-take advantage of Chinese labor
-special economic zones (SEZs). What is a SEZ?
ex: Shenzhen
As China’s economy
continues to grow, old
neighborhoods (right)
are destroyed to make
room for new buildings
(below).
Beijing, China
Newly Industrialized
East and Southeast Asia
1. Four Tigers
South Korea-autos, electronics
Hong Kong-toys
Taiwan-entrepot, toys, electronics
Singapore-entrepot, busiest port in world
Global Industrial Zones
• Areas have site situation advantages that have
contributed to a country’s economic success.
• North America’s Industrial Areas
– Mid-Atlantic-financial, communications and
entertainment
– Mohawk Valley-steel, food processing
– Western Great Lakes-motor vehicles
– Southern Cali-aircraft, textiles, furniture
– Southeastern Ontario-steel production
East Asia’s Industrial Areas
• Japan-automobiles, ships, cameras, stereos
and televisions
• China-low-cost labor (textiles, apparel, steel
and household products)
Europe’s Industrial Areas
•
•
•
•
United Kingdom-high-tech industries
Netherlands-machinery, metal
France-steel
Germany-chemicals, pharmaceuticals,
automobiles
• Italy-processed foods, automobiles
• Russia-fabrics, shipbuilding, petroleum,
natural gas, steel, chemicals