THE NORTH AMERICAN
MANUFACTURING CORE
(CHAPTER 5: PART 2)
MANUFACTURING
CORE
INTRODUCTION
• Economic character of the Manufacturing
Core's major cities:
– (1) Atlantic coastal cities and their environs
– (2) Cities of the interior core, located between the
Ohio River and the Great Lakes
• Light industry is more dominant in the former
while heavy industry characterizes the latter.
• Today's lesson focuses on locational factors
within the core and the economic character of
a few of its major centers.
LIGHT INDUSTRY
• Manufacturing activities that use moderate
amounts of partially processed materials
• Produce items of relatively high value per
unit weight
LOCATIONAL FACTORS
• Break-in-Bulk Points
– Transfer points along a transfer route
– Mode of transportation or type of carrier
changes
– Large shipments are reduced in size.
• Complementarity - exists at the regional scale
when two regions, through an exchange of raw
materials and finished products, can specifically
satisfy each other's demands.
INDUSTRIAL AGGLOMERATION
•
•
•
The clustering of manufacturing activities
Businesses and plants benefit from close proximity.
Share the costs of common operating requirements
 Advantages - Firms can share….
 skilled labor pools
 communications systems
 utility and power sources
 transportation networks
 Firms may even consume what each other produces.
 Economical>>reduces initial construction costs and
subsequent operating costs
INDUSTRIAL SITE FACTORS
•
•
•
•
•
•
Raw materials
Labor
Transportation
Energy sources
Communications networks
An accessible market
INERTIA COSTS OF LOCATION
• Costs born by an activity because it remains located at
its original site, even though the distributions of supply
and demand have changed
• The costs which a firm must bear when it is no longer
situated at the optimum location.
• Examples???
THE EMERGENCE OF CHICAGO
• An urban center which overcame unfavorable
characteristics of its site and evolved to prominence
based on its situation
• Site Disadvantages
– Established on the swampy margins of Lake
Michigan, an ideal habitat for mosquitoes and
other pests.
– Poor quality drinking-water
– The Chicago River was too small to serve as an
effective transportation link
– The city was almost completely destroyed by fire
in 1871
THE EMERGENCE OF CHICAGO
(continued)
• Situational Advantages
– The city's location evolved as the optimum
transportation hub as goods were
transferred between the Lake Region and
the agricultural interior.
– The city became the regional rail hub of
the western manufacturing core- benefiting
from both manufacturing and agriculture.
ECONOMIC CHARACTER
OF CORE CITIES
• New York
• Philadelphia
• Pittsburgh
• Cleveland
 Detroit
 Chicago
• Buffalo
 Toronto
 Milwaukee
• Boston
NEW YORK
Major port city
Immigration point
Office industries prevail
Banking
Publishing houses
Insurance companies
PHILADELPHIA
Major port city
Food processing
Ship building
Steel and metal fabrication
PITTSBURGH
Major inland port
Iron
Steel
Light industries
Corporate
headquarters
CLEVELAND
Major port
Transfer point
Iron
Steel
Rock & roll
DETROIT
Major port city
Automotive industry
Variety of supporting
light industries
CHICAGO
Port city
Transport hub
Meat-packing
Furniture
Clothing
Steel
ECONOMIC CHARACTER
OF CORE CITIES
•
Generalizations concerning the economic character
of other major cities of the manufacturing core.
• Boston - initially clothing and leather; since World
War II, electronic components and machinery
 Buffalo - formerly the continent's premier flour-milling
center- more recently, chemical industries, aluminum
 Toronto - a variety of light industries
 Milwaukee - brewing, steel, motor vehicles, food
processing
THE NORTH AMERICAN
MANUFACTURING CORE
(CHAPTER 5: PART 2)